Hidden
by Evalea
Summary: Everyone has scars, especially in this new world, but theirs are from before it happened. They both try to hide their pasts and the scars caused by them, but those scars make it easier to connect, easier to get along, and Daryl Dixon is someone people have a hard time getting along with. Daryl/OC M for language and adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Woohoo Walking Dead is back on and thats when I decided I wanted to go ahead and try to tackle this one too! I'm trying to get Daryl right but its kind of hard to in the beginning because you know how he is in the later seasons, so let me know what you guys think!**

Her legs burned, leading the walkers away had been mostly uphill. She paused for a moment to let them catch up to her before moving at a pace just slightly faster than them. Grabbing a tree limb she finally managed to pull herself up to an even slope and turned to see the walkers having a hard time. She counted them, nine, three more had joined the chase since she and Mike had spotted them while they were patrolling ahead of the group. Her shoulder burned where the strap of her bag had begun to dug in, she muttered to herself, "Good job Angel, couldn't have given the sack to Mike before running off, _no of course_ _not,_ that would have been too easy!"

She looked up at the sun, she had led the pack west for at least three hours. At this rate she wasn't sure if she was going to make it back to them by night fall, but Angel knew they would wait for her for a day before moving on.

Daryl paused when he heard light footsteps coming towards him he froze and lifted his crossbow towards the noise, not sure it if was a walker or some game, but whatever it was he would be ready for it. He slowly moved closer to the noise aiming his sights toward the tree line and cringed when he stepped on a twig.

Angel heard a snap in front of her, she pulled out her pistol, knowing she would have to use it if they were around her on both directions. When she came around the tree she saw a man with a crossbow aimed at her, she didn't lower her gun, knowing that people weren't as trustable in this new age. Instead she evaluated him, like he seemed to be doing to her.

He was shocked when a woman stepped out in front of him, her dark brown hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and her sapphire eyes were bearing into him past the nose of her gun. He noticed over her jacket and jeans she had leg and arm guards that had spikes on them, and he couldn't help but see that the woman was remarkably clean.

She could tell by the looks of this man he was a hunter, the crossbow wasn't the only thing that gave it away, or even the squirrels hanging from his shoulder. He was disheveled, hair unkempt, skin not having been washed for a day or so but he wasn't near dirty enough to be living out here, so it had to be a trip. His clothing also matched with the colors of the forest, mismatched green and khaki, and despite not knowing the man those colors made her just slightly more trusting of him.

"Where ya headin'?" He spoke first breaking the silence.

"West." She said and neither of them lowered their weapons.

He squinted his eyes at her, "Why west? And why alone?"

"I'm leading a pack away, afterwards I'm gunna meet up with my group." She side stepped.

"You aint bringin' no geeks west." He looked over and noticed the group following where her still, moving slightly faster since there were two of them to eat now.

"You have a camp there?" She asked and he nodded. She looked from him to the heard and holstered her gun, "Well, shit. Can you at least give me a hand getting rid of them, then?"

He turned and shot one of the walkers in the head and watched as she set her bag down and ran towards the small group, he was careful not to hit her as he watched her kick a walker in the face, landing the hit with her shin so it spikes invaded its brain. He had to admit, it was a genius way of not firing off a shot if you didn't have any other kind of weapon on you.

Angel was careful to stay far enough away from the group so that she didn't get over run, but still managed to take down four walkers. She turned to the man who was helping her and saw the crossbow aimed at her then heard the trigger release zooming past her ear. Hearing the gurgled sound followed by a thump she breathed a sigh of relief, "I wondered where that one went."

"Yeah, I figured best no to let you find out the hard way." He started getting his bolts from the heads of the dead and she shook the blood from her guards.

"Thanks for that." Angel pulled her sack back on her shoulder and looked back at him, "Well it was a pleasure killing zombies with you Mr. Hunter but I have at least five miles to make by sundown."

"Five miles." He wanted to laugh at her, "By yourself?"

"Yeah," She said turning around and put her hand in the air gesturing a goodbye, "Maybe I'll see you around, the world just got a hell of a lot smaller."

Daryl nodded his head even though he knew she couldn't see him and turned to head back to his own camp and didn't make it two steps before he heard a snap and the girl was swearing. He rushed over to where she was and saw her with a hand on a tree and a stick from a trap through one of her lower leg. She turned and noticed him standing there and he didn't see an ounce of lingering pain on her face, just annoyance, "One of yours I take it?"

He nodded his head and she rolled her eyes at his small smile as he walked over to unlatch the string freeing the stick that was through her leg. Daryl put her arm over his shoulder as he helped her sit on the ground before examining her leg, "You got a doctor in that group of yours?"

"Nope, please don't tell me I need one." She said looking down and him and the look he gave her through his brows told her she did, "Fuck, I'm not making it to the check point tonight on this leg, am I?"

"No, I'm takin' you back to my group, see what we can do for ya, we aint got no doctor but we got women that have kids, so they'll probably know what to do." He looked back down at the blood seeping out by the twig, and ripped the sleeves of his shirt and wrapped it around her ankle.

She hissed in a breath as he messed with the stick and she looked at him, "Do I have a choice?"

"Not unless you wanna bleed out then be made a meal," He looked at her, "I know I don't know ya but ya look like you're a tough bitch. But ya don't look like your makin' at least five miles without passing out."

She groaned and she knew from experience and the fact that could barely lift her leg without a searing pain in her ankle, she knew he was right, "Fine."

She held out her arms to him and he helped her up, wrapping his arm around her waist once she was up, "Here let me take that bag for ya, I can just carry my bow."

"No." She held it closer to her body, "I've carried it through worse."

He just shrugged his shoulders and secured the arm that was over his shoulders walking her the short quarter-mile back to the quarry. He could feel her body tense to take the light weight she put on her leg every time she had to take a step with it.

Angel kept her hand steady on the strap of her bag but kept it slack enough to get to her gun in case this guy tried any funny business. She realized she knew nothing about the man and so she looked at him while they walked, "I'm Angel by the way."

"Daryl." He spoke back using one arm to almost completely lift her over a fallen tree.

"Who all's back at this camp of yours?" She asked.

"Theres about twenty-five to thirty of us. Bunch of strangers that found the quarry off the highway when we couldn't make it into the city." Daryl kept his eyes open for any walkers knowing that she wouldn't be as much help this time as she had been before.

"Good thing you couldn't." She said her eyes saddening, "Atlanta isn't a place for the living anymore. Only scavengers with the skills should go there now."

Angel felt him looking at her and when she returned his gaze she couldn't tell if it was confusion or concern that was in it, "So you're from Atlanta?"

"I was there when it all started, me and the others decided it was time to get the hell out of dodge so we did." She said, "Grabbed what we could and left."

"Where were ya headin'?" He thought Merle might like to know where another good group to hit was.

"Didn't quite know, just north for now." She wasn't stupid, she wasn't going to tell a complete stranger where he could find them if he were to end up killing her then going after them.

"Fair enough." He said and they broke through the trees and she saw a small community, an RV with someone on look out, tents, a few fire pits, and as many people as he had said there would be. He called out for someone and she watched as a man ran over to him she could tell just by looking at him that he was an asshole who thought he was the shit, her least favorite type of person, but her favorite person to put in their place.

Another man wearing a funny looking hat and a dirty white button down shirt pointed at them while talking to another man who was wearing a tight shirt and what to her looked like working mans pants with matching shoes. They walked up to the two and the working man spoke first, "Daryl, whose your friend?"

"I wouldn't exactly say friend, just someone who didn't see his trap in the forest." She spoke dryly now rolling her eyes at Daryl and he almost let out a laugh. "Damn good at hiding those things. My names Angel. He said you all might be able to patch me up, then I'll be on my way."

"Shane." The working man said and he held out a hand, she shook it and he was surprised at how firm it was for a woman, "We'd be more than willin to help but we need supplies for our own people, just in case."

"I understand," She said readjusting her weight, Daryl still helping to support her. The man he called over now known as Merle was still standing there listening giving Daryl a large smile, "I also know your people will need to eat, and I have food that I can trade."

The man wearing the funny hat came up to them now, "Well that sounds like a decent investment, now doesn't it Shane? Plus we can turn the poor girl away when it was one of ours who technically hurt her."

"It wasn't my fault!" Daryl almost spit at him and then he felt Angels hand that was holding onto his shoulder squeeze it and he thought it an odd gesture.

She smiled at the men, "Regardless of how I got the injury the fact still remains that I need to be patched up and I'm willing to trade you for the treatment. Daryl already said you don't have a doctor, but anyone who knows their way around a needle will be fine, just stitch me up, give me gauze, and I'll give you food then be gone."

"To where?" The hat man asked, "It's not safe out there for you on your own."

"I have people waiting for me, they aren't that much farther north, and I could make it there without an issue after some rest and patch work." She spoke matter-of-factly.

Shane thought about it for a moment then a woman came up behind him, "Shane we can't turn her away, she needs help."

"Your right," He spoke looking at the woman and they shared a smile, "Let's get you seated and see what it looks like."

Daryl helped her hop over to a seat near the fire pit and they put a chair across from it Shane sat down and asked the funny hat man, who he called Dale to bring him some things from the RV if he had them. He picked her leg up and the woman, Lori, came back with another one, Carol, and their two kids, Carl and Sophia.

Angel laughed at the kids as Carl seemed interested in the wound and Sophia grimaced and looked away. She reached over and started digging through her duffelbag and when her hand hit the two things she was looking for she looked up and smiled at the four of them, "If your mothers say its okay I think I have something that the two of you will like."

The two children's eyes widened as she pulled out two bags of candy, one a Skittles and one M&Ms. They both looked at their respective mothers and when the two women nodded they grabbed the bags and ran over to a table to start dividing them up.

Shane looked up at her, "Why'd you do that?"

"Just because it's the end of the world doesn't mean people don't still do nice things for others." She smiled still watching the kids, "Plus they'll get more enjoyment out of them than I will now, I had plenty of them growing up."

"Well thank you Angel." Lori smiled at her.

Carol had begun looking at the stick through her leg with Shane and said she could fix it up no problem, it would just be getting it out that was hard. Angel looked at her and smiled as she took the guard off of her leg, "Oh no ma'am, getting it out is the easy part, patching it up is what sucks."

She had an audience of over half the camp now, two blonde girls, Dale, the kids and their mothers, Shane, Daryl, Merle, an Asian, a Hispanic family, and a African man and woman. Carol looked at the stick and looked at her, "If you need to prepare yourself, now might be the time. Try your best not to scream, we don't want the walkers to hear."

Angel nodded then grabbed the pistol from her hip and popped the bullet from the chamber, sticking it in her mouth and grabbing the sides of the chair, "Do it."

Carol looked at her one more time and everyone began grimacing or flinching when her hand hit the twig, all but Daryl who wore a small smile of admiration, and Merle, who had a huge grin. When Angel felt the slight pull she bit down on the bullet she had put between her molars and looked up at the sky rather than watch it happen.

She had always hated medical procedures and out of everyone she knew it seemed like she was the one getting something done more than anyone. Angel knew how to process the pain through her body but it was hard to do with it loosing so much blood, more so now that the stick was out. She heard rushing water in her ears and her vision began to go blue, she knew she was fainting. She spit out the bullet and her head rolled to the side looking at Daryl, her words slurring, "If I wake up and I don't have a foot, Imma kill you."

They all watched as she fainted and Merle was the first to speak, "I don't know about y'all but I like her!"

"You like anything with a vagina Merle." Andrea said to him.

He laughed as he watched them carry her into Dales RV to get Angel out of the heat, "Not anything, girlie, even I have limits."

Daryl noticed her bag still sitting on the ground where her chair was then noticed spray painted on the side in what looked like a military font to him were the words _Touch My Bag I'll Kill You. _He let out a quiet laugh so no one heard remembering her last words to him. He grabbed the bag synching it up and followed them up to the RV with it.

"Where you takin that Little Brother?" Merle asked.

"She seemed protective over it, figure she might want it when she wakes up." He turned the corner in the RV and saw Carol finishing up Angels leg with gauze. He set the bag down next to her and walked back out of the RV. Merle had a huge grin on his face, "What the hell are you smilin about?"

"You wanna get yourself some of that don't ya?" His brother smiled at him and Daryl just grunted at him, "Come on little brother, you have to admit that she has one amazing figure, she's got meat, but just enough so that she don't look like bones."

"Then why don't you go for it?" Daryl turned to look at him.

"Cuz, I wanted to make sure if you wanted her you got her, since you were the one that found her." Merle sauntered up to him, "But since you don't, I will go for it."

* * *

Angel tried to stretch but her leg hit a wall and a searing pain shot up it, she looked around at where she was at and panicked before remembering her injury and coming to this camp. It was dark outside and she slowly moved the blanket off of her and set her feet on the ground, when she stood the pain on her leg was awful, but not unbearable, she could make it. She made her way out of the RV with a horrible limp and hopped down the steps seeing a majority of the group around a fire. Lori was the first to spot her.

"Woah, should you be walkin on that?" She asked and when Dale saw Angel he quickly rushed to her side to help support her.

"Yeah, it only stings like a mother-" Angel remembered the children, "In labor, but I can walk on it."

Dale helped her sit down and she could help but notice Merle and Daryl over in their own part of the camp. Dale was handed a bowl for her and she thanked him after taking it not realizing how hungry she was, "You were beginning to worry us with how long you slept."

Her head shot to look at him, "How long was I out?"

"More than a day." The words left his mouth and they all watched the horror slip over her face.

Her group would have already picked a destination for the next day and two of them would already be marking the path to get there. She set the bowl down and moved as quick as she could to the RV, to her dufflebag. Shane and Dale followed her and saw her digging through the large back and she pulled out a walkie-talkie, "Sol to the Reapers. This is Sol come in!"

She paused and cursed under her breath, "Romeo, are you there." She was only responded with silence, but didn't give up, "Aiden? Can you hear me, its Angel?"

When she still didn't hear anything she put the walkie down and braced herself on the makeshift bed and let her head hang for a minute. They were out of range, they had already moved on like they were supposed to. She couldn't help but smile, she was one of the ones that came up with the rule, and she was proud they had followed it. Angel looked over her shoulder at the two men and with a weak smile asked, "Got enough room for one more?"

They both paused and she turned to look at them leaning on the bed, "I can pull my weight, I'm one hell of a shot so I can help with any walker issues. I have supplies I can share and I don't need a tent or anything. I'll mostly keep to myself too so me having an issue with anyone else won't happen."

"You can stay." Dale spoke, "We don't need to know any of that for you to stay."

Shane still hesitated, "As long as you follow our rules, you're welcome here."

She nodded and followed them back out to the pit. When she exited Daryl couldn't help but see the disappointment on her face. Angel picked the bowl back up and continued eating. Lori was the first to speak, "What happened?"

"My group moved on, they're no longer in contact range, so I'm sticking around." She smiled at the woman whose son was lying on her lap.

"They just left you?" The younger blonde asked.

Angel smiled down into her bowl, "No, we didn't like the idea of staying in one place for the night so when we settled in for dinner and sleep we would plot a course for the next day and head there. We told each other that if one of us was to go missing that we would only wait a day for them in that spot and my day has passed."

"That's harsh." The older blonde said.

"Not really," She shook her head covering her mouth, "We had a system since we were travelling off the main highway, a pair would wake up before the rest of the group and make their way to the destination, clearing a path for the others to make it through and if one of them were to go missing then we wait a day, but if one of the non-scouts were to go missing, in case we had to scatter or something, we would look for them. There were only six of us that were scouts, the rest had family or someone with them so we didn't want to chance them losing each other. The six knew that if it happened that the whole group would be better off to keep moving rather than stick around and wait. Plus with the way the world is now, if the person were to be captured by people wanting to take their goods then they could take them to the empty campsite and say that they were left behind and honestly not know where the group was. Might sound harsh but we haven't had an issue yet, and with people clearing the way we can travel farther faster."

"How'd you get separated?" Shane asked.

Angel explained, "By the time the group would have been up and moving me and the other scout were almost to our destination for the night when a small group of walkers showed up, I lead them west away from where we would be and after a few hours I ran into Mr. Hunter over there and here I am."

Merle and Daryl had been listening to the conversation and when she finished speaking Merle nudged his brother, "You sure now, it's been longer for you than it has me, and she even has a nickname for ya already!"

"Yeah because she's gunna wanna sleep with me after I'm the reason she got left by her group." Daryl snorted at him.

"So you do wanna give it to her." Merle laughed.

"I ain't no damn dog, I don't want to stick it to the first bitch that comes along even if it has been a while." Daryl muttered to his brother. It had been a while, even before the world went to shit, Merle was the one who was good at getting girls and Daryl either bit the bullet so his brother could get some or he just ended up getting his left overs eventually, he'd only gotten lucky a few times and actually been able to land someone decent looking.

"Well how's about we see who gets there first little brother." Merle slapped him on the back and Daryl turned to watch the newest member of their group talk with the others then walk with Dale back to the RV.

Dale waved her along, "Come on, I'm sure we have one more tent, Glenn brought back a load full a month or so ago."

"Oh no, you don't have to do that. Really I'll be fine with just my sleeping bag." She smiled at the man and he smiled sweetly back.

"And if it rains?"

She laughed, "Sleep under a tree?"

He laughed back and then handed her a compacted tent, "Well I know this will do a better job than a tree."

She thanked him and threw her bag over her shoulder before exiting the RV and looking around for a spot to set herself up. Angel saw a small plateau not too far behind where Daryl stayed and figured it would give her some privacy, she got the impression from the rest of the group not many people bother them that much.

Once she had it set up she unpacked her bag for the first time since she had put everything in it, they had been on the move since they left the city and she never saw the point in getting comfortable somewhere, but now it looked like she was stationary for a while. Once she had everything out she looked at the neat piles of clothing and organized lines of food while, not to mention the unstringed bow and other various sized knives and guns. Angel groaned when she realized how much she missed the feel of her AR-15 in her hands. With that thought she reached in for the last things in her bag, she had left them on the very bottom and smiled when she felt the semi-rough material in her hands. She pulled out her combat jacket and ran her hands over the patch that said U.S. ARMY and the rank badge right next to it.

"Angel." She heard Shanes voice outside her tent and she quickly put her jacket back in her bag and unzipped the tent to look at him, "I think you might be owin us some food."

Angel nodded and leaned back in her tent and when she returned she had six cans with her, "Some stew, a few vegetables, and a few fruits."

He smiled at her and then thanked her, and before he turned to leave she stopped him following him out of the tent, "I can hunt to, you just have to promise me that Daryl will let me know where all his damned traps are."

"That's his department, you'd have to talk to him about it." Shane said before walking back towards the main group. She went back into her tent for a minute and grabbed a pack of cigarettes out of the pocket of her bag and glanced at the stacks of food she had, the six cans barely made a dent.

Thank god for dufflebags, she thought and left her tent and walked down the road a little bit, her limp slowly disappearing as her leg got used to the pain. Daryl watched her walk past and his eyes lingered and grew wide as he saw a lighter then a puff of smoke leave her. He looked over and saw Merle was already in his tent so he jumped up and walked off towards her.

"Didn't know you smoked." He said bounding down towards her.

She looked at him, "You never asked."

"Can I get one?" He asked and she nodded throwing the pack at him.

"Guess I do owe you that." She traded the pack for her lighter and couldn't help her lips curling at the look of enjoyment on his face. He handed her back the lighter and she stuck it in her jacket pocket, "You wanna show me where all those traps are when my leg is a little bit better? I can hunt too and I like pulling my weight."

"Can't use a gun." He inhaled.

"I know. I don't hunt with a gun. My grandfather insisted that I hunt with a bow, and not your kind of bow." He turned to look at her and she held her figure like you would with a recurve bow and he nodded in understanding. She leaned on the tree and looked at him, "So you just over here for the cigarette?"

He wondered if she had heard the conversations he had had with Merle but she continued when he didn't speak, "I don't really care I just can tell you're not the social type unless its Merle who's your brother."

"How'dya know that?" He gave her a smirk.

"I've watched people my whole life. You're mostly a loner but you throw yourself into conversation when Merle does and needs back up on something. Merle is the only one your constantly with but you back down when he talks and always follows his lead, which make you brothers, if you were friends or whatever you would both be pretty much equal, which you aren't even when it's just the two of you." She smiled at him and he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah he my brother but it aint like that." She gave him an unbelieving look and he waved her off, "I don't care what you think."

"Then why are you still standing here?" Daryl looked over at her and saw Angel with a small smile on her face, "You want to make sure I don't hate you or anything for not making it to my group. Which I don't. You saved my life, you were right I wouldn't have made it five miles and if I had hit that trap and you hadn't of been there I wouldn't have been able to fight the walkers off. So I don't hate you, I owe you more than a cigarette."

"Hell then give me another." He smiled holding his hand out and she tossed the pack back at him.

"See and now that you know I'm not mad we can move past it. And you can ask for a smoke anytime, I managed to get two cartons out of the city somehow," She laughed to herself, "Cant believe they weren't all taken, the end of the world seems like a great time for a cigarette."

He looked over at her, "Why are you so nice to us? You don't even know us?"

"I learned a long time ago not to judge a book by its cover."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! No control 16, I love getting ideas and stuff from you guys so keep them coming! It doesnt offend me at all, it just makes my wheels spin more! Keep me updated on what y'all are thinking!**

Angel heard footsteps coming towards her tent and she stretched her body out, letting the sleep squeeze from her muscles, not even feeling a pain in her ankle. As she stretched her hand reached out towards her knife getting ready to defend if it was a walker.

"Hey Ang," She relaxed at Daryls voice, "You up for going huntin' today?"

"Yeah," She sat up and unzipped the tent to look at him squatting down, "How long until you leave?"

"Long enough for you to get ready." He stood up then turned away. She zipped it back up really quick and changed her shirt and put on a pair of pants. She placed her guards on and grabbed her bow and quiver then exited her tent, Daryl waiting just outside.

In the month she bad been there the two had become a strange pair, him remaining mostly with her and Merle now, but she had begun to become familiar with the others in their group and even though she had become close with a few of them it never failed that anytime she pulled out a cigarette he was there. Merle had tried his advances with her to no avail and when she had told him about it he just laughed and said that's Merle.

Angel found it funny watching him when others were around, he was rude and quiet and hot-headed, but when it was just them he wasn't like that at all, he was good at holding a conversation and tried to keep up the hard exterior he had but she always managed to break it down, even if just a little, and get a smile from him. She enjoyed his company, the fact that he was different from her is what made it so comforting, it reminded her of her friends, and that helped her to not miss them to much.

As they walked through the trees, Daryl checking their traps now and then and both of them shooting a random squirrel when they saw one. They always kept their conversations light, a joke thrown out at the other with hopes of perhaps finding out about them without having to directly ask.

Daryl watched as she stopped and locked her arrow to the string, picking up a rock as she bent down. She tossed it at a tree and the bird that had been singing took of flying and she quickly took aim and he watched it fall from the sky not a second after her arrow had been released. She quietly stepped over to where it was and pulled her arrow out of it grabbing it and walking back to him, "Here's to hoping it taste like chicken."

"Don't much matter what it taste like as long as its edible." He took it from her and looped it on the string with the squirrels. As they traveled she did it a few more times and they ended up with a nice amount of birds along with rodents. She even managed to bag a rabbit, "You're pretty good at this."

"Yeah I might not sound like it but I didn't grow up in a big city." She smiled at him, "My parents and grandparents had a firm belief in being able to take care of yourself."

"Well ya defiantly aint lackin in that." He checked another trap, "Beginning to think your name doesn't suit ya."

She laughed, "Yeah I think my mother regretted it the second I could walk, me and my brother were always getting into some kind of trouble."

"You have a brother?" He looked at her and she nodded at him, "Do you…do you know if hes-"

Angel knew he couldn't finish the statement thinking about his own brother and how hooked on him he was, "Alive? Last I saw him he was. And I'll just keep believing it until his corpse is trying to eat me."

"What about your parents?"

"Died in a car crash. Drunk driver."

He paused for a moment, "I'm sorry."

"Did you do it?" She looked at him.

"No." He sounded defensive.

"Then don't be sorry. It happened a few years ago, I've dealt with it." She shrugged her shoulders and the fabric of her sleeve got caught on the skin and he saw a black mark on her skin.

"That a tattoo?" He couldn't help but ask.

She nodded and lifted up the fabric on her right arm and he stepped closer to see a grim reapers scythe with two words underneath it, Fever and Haven. She put the fabric down and they continued walking, "Got anymore?"

"Yeah I have three total. One is on my left arm, under the guard and the other is in a place I'm sure your brother is just dying to see." She smiled when she heard him let out a laugh.

"I think you're beginning to frustrate him, he's even getting upset that I haven't done you yet. Doesn't understand how we can spend so much time together and we aint doin it like rabbits yet. Well he gets why you aint with me but he don't much get why I aint tryin with you." He set his sights on a squirrel.

"Well I would never fuck like rabbits with him, that's for sure. You are a lot easier to put up with." She picked on him, "There are a few things I do miss about the old days."

"Oh yeah and what are those?" He looked at her as she pulled out a cigarette.

"Well if you a one night stand with someone, it was easy to never see them again, but now we're all sleeping five feet away from each other. Plus with the five feet away from each other how are you supposed to even be able to have sex with someone?" She almost angrily flicked the butt in her fingers.

"You sayin you wanna sleep with someone?" He leaned on a tree taking a drag himself, "Shane gets whispered about a lot by the other girls."

"Oh hell no. He is too much of a pretty boy and those are always trouble. Plus him and Lori are getting it on." She groaned, "I'm just saying that if I wanted to get some it would be nice to be able to do without people thinking walkers were attacking."

He couldn't hold back his laugh this time, "So you're a screamer."

"Only when it's really good." She winked at him with a laugh.

He pulled out his wallet and tossed something to her, "Might need that more than I will in the comin days."

She laughed when she saw the condom in her hand, "Please like I need one of these. Sex is fucking awful with them."

"How'dya keep from gettin' knocked up?" He looked as she tossed it back to him.

"Birth control. Keeps me from killing people once a month and it's so strong not even Chuck Norris' sperm could do shit." She breathed out a laugh and they both looked down at their feet as they continued smoking.

"Shit, I miss sex too." He spoke breaking the silence, "Never had it without a rubber though."

"I know it's better for girls and I've heard guys do nothing but complain about it when they've had sex without one and have to go back, said you can feel more without one." She dropped her cigarette and snuffed it out with her boot. She peered up at the man in front of her who was avoiding eye contact with her as he finished his cigarette. Her eyes travelled from his shaggy hair to his blue eyes, down the length of his body which she knew was somewhat muscular at least under his baggy clothes. She had found him attractive since she met him even though his personality was rough around the edges, not that it mattered for just sex, "You know…we could…"

Daryls head shot up at her words knowing what she was hinting at. He had to admit she was one of the most attractive women he had ever seen outside of a magazine since almost all the girls in his town looked like they had been rode hard and put up wet. He studied her for a moment wondering if this was one of her many jokes but all he saw was seriousness on her face, "Why?"

"We both miss sex, we both leave the group for a day or so at a time so we don't have to worry about people at camp knowing, and I'm sure we both are very great at the concept no strings attached." She just shrugged her shoulders at him, "It was just a thought, but since you don't want to."

"Hold on, I never said that." He stepped closer to her and saw the faint smile that was tugging at her lips, "If we do this, there aint gunna be no attachments."

"Or jealousy, we can call it done anytime we want to." She took a step closer to him, both still having serious looks on their face.

"No one knows about it, and it's just straight sex." He finished almost closing the gap between then, still looking for something in her eyes that said she didn't actually want to have sex with him but he still came up empty.

"Right, just no mouth to mouth contact, it's too personal." She looked up into his light blue eyes and saw him nod, "So are we going to do this, or was everything we just said hypothetical?"

He stepped forward again putting her back against a tree and she heard the rasp in his voice. Daryl was careful not to put his lower body near her because he was a man and just the thought of getting to have sex, let alone with the hottest girl he had ever had the chance to, was getting him excited. He put his mouth to her ear, "Only if you're sure."

He was answered by her tongue travelling up his neck to his ear. Daryl dropped his crossbow when he felt his dick twitch and heard her drop her stuff next to her, it had been a while since he had been this close to a woman and her sucking and nibbling at his ear was straining his pants. He nipped at her neck and collar-bone and that was the first time he had ever noticed that she wore a necklace that had the pendant tucked into her shirt. He went to pull it out when she stopped him then she looked at him, "Its been a while, I'm just warning you."

He thought she was going to say something about the necklace but then realized it might be something she doesn't want to talk about right now so he just focused on her statement, "You sayin you want it to be gentle?"

"Never said that," She smiled removing her leg guards so that her pants would be easier to get off when the time came, "Just giving you a heads up."

"All good, it aint been recent for me neither." He started undoing her pants as she went back to his neck and ears, he was trying everything not to moan because he knew they had to be quiet with walkers about. She slipped her boots off right as he pushed down her pants and she stepped out of them almost immediately. He slipped his hand into her underwear and smiled when her body froze as he worked his fingers into her moistening folds. He could hear her ragged breaths as he slipped two fingers into her and began pumping in and out of her. Daryl couldn't believe how tight she was, but then again how tight were secondhand girls going to be? And she was far from secondhand.

Angel quickly moved her hands to undo his pants and as she did she could feel him through the material of his boxers, and once she had his cargos on the ground she slipped her hand into his boxers and began stroking him and this time he couldn't suppress the moan. She gave a disappointed groan when he removed his hand from her clit and when she saw him pushing down his boxers she did the same. He quickly grabbed her thighs, their sense of urgency grown and he lifted her up placing himself at her entrance and she wrapped her legs around his waist and bit her lip as he slid into her.

Daryl braced his hands on the tree beside her and looked to this side blinking a few times at the difference a condom makes, or hell maybe it was just her, he couldn't help but mutter, "Fucking Christ."

He was bigger than she expected him to be and it felt glorious to her. She weaved her fingers into his hair and sucked on the top of his ear and he finally began to move inside of her. They grunted and moaned as he thrust in her and she couldn't help but be thankful for how amazing he was as she felt the burning in her loins begin. He could tell she was trying to hold back noises since her throat was right next to his ear and he couldn't help but smile as he licked up the sweat that was dripping down her neck.

Her grip on him became tighter and she managed to get out, "I'm gunna-"

She couldn't finish her words through the pleasure but he knew what she was going to say because he felt it too and he had a feeling it wasn't going to be quiet, but he knew she was going to try to hold it in. Right before she fell over the edge he could feel her tighten around him and he moved one of his hands to her mouth and it muffled the almost scream so that it would be almost silent. Her muscles flexing around him sent him over the edge and he pushed his mouth to her shoulder so he didn't let out any loud noise as he spilled inside of her.

They didn't move for a moment, catching their breaths and when he finally lifted his head from her shoulder he had a small grin, "Only yell if it's good, huh?"

"You sir, deserve a medal for that." She smiled at him, "I haven't came that hard in a while."

They quickly dressed and gathered their things and she asked him if he had left any marks to which the reply was no, thank goodness. He lifted up their seven squirrels', five birds, and a rabbit, "Damn, you're gunna come huntin with me every time."

"Because of the game or the sex?" She smiled at them as they began to make the trek back to the camp.

"I gotta pick one?" He looked at her with a grin.

"Look who's the funny man now." She nudged him.

They continued their banter until they broke through the tree line and saw the camp there. Daryl handed Merle the game so he could start skinning them and Merle looked back and forth between the two after looking at the game, "You two fuck while you were out?"

"Oh yeah, that's how we caught so much today, we just laid there all day and they came flocking to watch, honestly I was surprised you didn't turn up." She smiled at him then rolled her eyes.

"Damn, you don't want neither of us? Well Daryl I can understand but honey, how can you deny this?" Merle held his hands open and Daryl couldn't help but smile at her but behind his brother so he couldn't see, and she knew he was thinking about the sex plus what she had said about Merle.

"Call me honey again and I'll make you the same consistency of it." She smiled sweetly at him and continued back to her tent.

She took a wash cloth and dipped it into her bucket of water and wiped off the dirt that had accumulated on her skin from the hunt and began to smell a fire and knew that someone was cooking their dinner for the night. Angel ran her fingers along the chain that Daryl had taken notice of earlier and pulled the remaining part from her shirt to look at her dog tags. She brushed over the lifted lettering and sighed, missing her squad and hoping that they were okay. She shook the thought from her head, they had survived way worse than some corpses, they survived Afghanistan and Iraq, they were fine, they had to be.

She heard Loris voice calling for her, "Angel, dinners ready."

Tucking the tags back in her shirt she climbed out of the tent heading towards the fire pit. She smiled at the group sitting next to Andrea and Dale and took the bowl handed to her. She listened to the small talk as she ate, not getting involved in the conversation unless directly addressed, but she couldn't help glancing over and seeing the Dixon brothers skinning their catches for the day. Lori must have seen her looking and asked the same question Daryl had when he saw her shoot down the first bird, and she answered Lori the same way she had him.

Andrea turned and looked at her, "What did you do before the walkers?"

"Doesn't really matter now does it?" Angel answered honestly, "I could be the queen of England and it wouldn't matter in this new world."

"Hated you job I take it?" T-dog looked at her with a smile, "I know I hated mine."

She smiled thinking about her time in the army, "Nah, I loved my job, couldn't imagine having another one."

"So that's why you don't want to talk about it. You miss it so much that you don't want to think about it." Jacqui smiled at her.

"Damn straight." Angel replied back wiping her bowl clean. She smiled at the group before returning to her tent and grabbing herself a new pack of cigarettes.

Angel had to admit that she was a little upset about the discussion of her job, she wasn't ashamed of it but if any of them were there in Atlanta, then they might know what happened, and that was just something she wasn't quite ready talk about, or even think about. She didn't even ask Daryl if he wanted to join her as she walked down the path for a smoke.

Daryl noticed her walking right past him and she seemed to be a little frustrated. Despite Merle telling him not to go after her, that this isn't when you want to get a woman but Daryl wanted a cigarette, and had heard the conversation in the month he had known her he had never heard her have a defensive tone like she did.

He turned the corner and saw her furiously flicking a lighter but it wasn't catching. Pulling a box of matches out of his pocket he lowered her hand and lit the end for her with his match. She didn't look at him as she handed him the pack, they smoked in silence and after a few puffs he heard her voice, it was quiet, but he heard her when she spoke, "Thank you."

"For what?" He didn't look at her, attempting to keep up his façade.

"For not asking," She squatted down, "For trying to console me or comfort me or ask me what my job was or any of that bullshit."

"You were right, don't much matter now, do it?" He looked at her flicking his cigarette, she looked back at him with a slight smile.

"Exactly, so thank you." She leaned backwards and stretched her back, "I think I'm gunna sleep good tonight."

Daryl smirked, "Whys that?"

"Worked out some tension earlier in the forest." She smiled back, "Don't want to go into too much detail, it might be a bit too much information."

"You know, I didn't see that tattoo you were talking about." He cocked his head to the side at her.

"Well you weren't really looking in the right spot for it." She stood up and looked him in the eye and winked after saying, "Maybe next time you'll have to pay more attention."

She patted him on the shoulder and he turned watching her walk away and he knew for once in his life he had an actual friend that wasn't Merle, and he knew it would have happened even if they hadn't of had sex.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I think I have realized why I have a hard time writing Daryl correctly, its probably because I want to throw some Murphy McManus in there! Haha well anyways keep letting me know what you guys think!**

Daryl looked down the cliff towards the quarry where the women were all washing their clothes, Angel generally washed her things by herself but she said it would have been rude if she was down there and didn't at least give them a hand with everyone else's. He smiled watching Merle walk down to them and knew it was going to be a good show even if he couldn't hear what was happening.

Angel was bent over grabbing more garments to wash when she felt a hand on her ass. She paused and waited, knowing that it wasn't Daryl because he wouldn't when people were around, and when nothing happened she became frustrated, "Whoever has their hand on my ass better remove it before it's not connected to their body anymore."

"Well damn sweetheart I figured you were the kind that liked it rough but that's just kinky." She heard Merle say from behind her and she turned crossing her arms.

"You can't even dream what I like Merle." She gave him a cocky smirk.

"Then why don't you come back up to the tent with ol' Merle and show me." He ran his hand down the side of her face and Daryl watched knowing what he was trying to do and he felt like punching his brother. Daryl also knew that it was never going to happen because he knew Angel was only nice to Merle because she was friends with him, if she wasn't she probably would barely even be civil with him.

Angel pushed his hand away, "Touch me again and I will hit you."

She had gotten used to his advances but recently he had been pushing the limits more than before and she only liked being touched when she wanted to be, and she never wanted to be touched by Merle. She rolled her eyes as Merle looked her up and down, he went to go say something placing his hand on her waist and she pulled her arm back and her fist landed on his jaw knocking him back a few steps.

Daryl rushed down the canyon before she ended up beating his brother up to bad. The women who were washing clothes stood up to watch as Merle wiped the blood from his face and stood up to look at Angel who was still standing ready to defend, "So you wanna dance sweetheart? That was impressive hit."

"You don't wanna go toe to toe with me Dixon, I _will_ put you in your place." She said as she watched him ready to take a swing at her, and from the little she knew about the brothers she knew that Merle would have no problem hitting a woman, "It's been a while since I've had a good fight."

She dodged his swing and hit him in the stomach but didn't recover from the proximity in time and she felt a sharp pain against her own jaw and she stumbled back and watched as Merle tried to swing at her again but was stopped by Daryl, "Merle! Don't be a dumbass!"

Merle shoved his brother off and walked away saying that this wasn't worth his time. Daryl walked over to Angel as she spit blood out of her mouth and placed his hand on her cheek wiping away the blood that was dripping out of her mouth, but she angrily pushed his hand away, "I swear to god Daryl, if your brother puts a hand on me again I won't hold back. I'll end him."

"You were holding back?" Daryl asked as she stormed past him towards the camp, to her tent he assumed.

She flopped down on her sleeping bag with an angry growl, wishing she could have done more damage to the man. She had only been holding back for Daryls sake but she knew she could have taken him no problem, she was always one of the best back in her squad, one of the guys only rarely getting the one up on her. Her hand habitually ran over the circular scar on the back of her neck and her other one ran over her stomach following the line where she knew the scar that ran across her stomach was, even if she couldn't feel it under her shirt. Those were just two of the reasons she didn't like people to touch her if she didn't invite them too.

She heard Shane calling her name and she begrudgingly exited her tent and walked up to the patch where he was, "Whats this I hear about you and Merle getting into it?"

"He touched me and I told him not to or I'd hit him, then he touched me again so I hit him." She crossed her arms looking at him.

"We can't be havin fights now." Shane looked up at her through his brow.

"You don't get involved when Ed beats Carol but when I hit Merle it's an issue?" She couldn't believe this shit, he opened his mouth to counter and she just raised her hands to stop him, "You know what, I'll just stick to myself, I won't bother anyone from now on."

Angel went back to her tent and grabbed her knife bag and her bow and arrows and began walking to the forest. Shane called after her, "Where ya going?"

"To blow off some steam so I don't beat up another guy." She yelled back and didn't look back.

Lori walked over to Shane having seen the altercation, "You know, she is right."

He groaned and walked over to Daryl who was sharpening a knife, "Hey Daryl."

"Whaddya want?" He asked checking the point of his knife feeling a little pissed about Angel blowing him off.

"I want ya to go after her, seems like you are the person that she's closest to here." Shane squatted to look at him.

"I'll think about it. She can take care of herself." Despite his words, Daryl knew that if she wasn't back by dinner he would go and find her.

She wasn't sure how long she had been out there but she was sweaty and dirty and her fingers were raw from the string of her bow and the blades of knives that were embedded in the tree in front of her. She was aiming at the tree when she heard footsteps behind her and she turned on her heel and focused her arrow, but it was a friendly face, "Hey Glenn, you should cough or something next time."

"Well the others told me you stomped off so I thought I'd keep my distance so you didn't hit me." He smiled at her and she gave a weak one back plucking the arrow from the string, "I know you were joking at the time but while I was in the city today I saw this and thought of you."

He pulled a bottle out of his bag and handed it to her and she smiled, "Bourbon, nice. And perfect timing!"

"That's why I came out here to find you after I heard what happened." He gave a weak smile to her. Daryl stood back in the trees watching the conversation, "You- You were from Atlanta right?"

"Not originally but I lived there for a bit, why?" She said taking a swig.

He hesitated for a moment, "I could use some help on these runs and since you know the city it'll be easier, and you know how to shoot so I wouldn't have to worry about you. Plus your bag is freaking huge."

She laughed at him, "Yeah, I'll go with you next time. Atlanta isn't my favorite place but when we need stuff its better than Walmart."

She paused when she heard a crunch and saw as Glenn began to look around, she raised a hand to him, and almost sang as if talking to a child, "Daryl you can come out now, I have bourbon."

"How the hell'd you know I was there?" He bounded down the slope.

"I'm not deaf you stomped over this was about thirty minutes ago, I was just waiting for you to say something." She took another swig while he reached for the bottle, making it to where he couldn't reach it.

"Dammit woman, give me that bottle." He said as she took a step back out of his reach, he knew she wasn't as mad anymore because she was messing with him.

Glenn watched the two for a minute then decided he better get back to camp before Daryl started getting on to him like he always did after they were near each other for a long time. Angel yelled a good-bye after him while Daryl was trying to reach around her from behind to get the bottle away from her, "Daryl, we have to make this last! Two shots that's all you get!"

He finally got the bottle and held her still while taking two glugs from the bottle. He twisted the cap back on and enjoyed the burn down his throat, "Good to know you aint still pissed."

"Only just a little irked, I guess alcohol just gets me in a good mood." She shrugged pulling the knives she had thrown out of the tree in front of her.

Daryl leaned on a tree and rubbed the back of his neck, "Yea, Merle was outta line."

"I've gotten used to him, I just don't like to be touched." She said packing up her bag.

"Oh yeah," He nudged her shoulder with his boot.

"I don't like being touched by people I don't want to touch me." She looked at him playfully swatting his foot away. When she stood back up she looked at him, "We don't tell anyone about this bottle, not even Merle."

"Damn straight, fuckered drink that shit up in a night." He said tucking it away in her bag as best as he could. She looked up at him and he saw a question forming on her face, "What is it?"

"Why didn't you go back up to camp with Merle? Why'd you stay to check on me?" She now saw confusion on his face, "When Merle gets into an argument with anyone else in camp you always stalk off behind him, but you didn't."

"Because Merle was in the wrong, he shouldn't have put hands on ya." He shrugged his shoulders taking a few steps away from her, "He shouldn't have put hands on a woman. I only stopped ya because I didn't want ya to kill him."

"Thanks, I don't think I would have killed him though." She looked down at her feet.

"Tell that to the face you had earlier." He smirked at her. She half rolled her eyes at him as she began walking to camp. Daryl grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him, "We aint gotta go back to camp just yet, do we?"

She couldn't help but smile when he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back closer to his chest. He began placing kisses on the back of her neck and she continued to stand there, acting like she needed to be more convinced, when she was actually just toying with him. When she didn't respond to him he placed his lips at her ear and she enjoyed the huskiness of his voice, "I know you still got some frustration to get out. If anyone asks we can just say we stayed out here to shoot a bit longer."

She might have been able to go longer with her charade if this man wasn't so damn good in bed…not that they had ever done it in a bed before, it was always either the forest floor or up against a tree, but it was better than any non-emotional sex she had ever had in a bed so she didn't care. She turned around and he let his hands glide to her ass as she got up on her tip toes to whisper in his ear, "On the ground. Now."

* * *

Two weeks later Glenn approached her about a trip into the city, Andrea over heard the conversation and went to Shane about it, and not quietly, Glenn and Angel heard it when it happened, "How come she gets to go with him and we all have to stick around here collecting leaves for dinner?"

"I didn't know she was planning to go with him." Shane replied back and turned to look at the pair who were standing next to each other, "Didn't know you took others into the city with ya Glenn."

"She's got a big bag, can fend for herself and says she knows the way around pretty well." He said quietly looking from Angel to Shane.

"If you needed more people to carry things you could have just said so." Morales said joining the conversation.

Shane agreed with him, "Yeah maybe you should take a few people with you, more supplies." He looked at Andrea as he said, "And give people something to do."

"I don't know." Glenn looked at the ground unsure, "The cities crawling with geeks and one wrong move and you're done for."

"So you think she can handle it and we can't?" Andrea put her hands on her hips.

"You'd be surprised what Ang can handle. She took out a gang of walkers with just those body guards day I found 'er." Daryl said from the other side of the camp cleaning a bolt looking up and Andrea though his brows, she just glared back at him and was about to make a remark when Glenn spoke first.

"Look if you want to go then that's fine." Glenn said getting frustrated and wanting to avoid a fight. When a few more people volunteered including Merle it was decided that they would leave the next day. Glenn pulled Angel to the side and pulled out a map for her to see, "This here is a department store."

"Yeah I know it. There's a sporting goods store just up the road a ways, I could use some new arrows for hunting and so could Daryl, natures taking its toll." She said pointed to a spot near it on the map.

They spent a few moments talking figuring out a plan and Glenn paused before he looked up at her, "If you take Merle I'll take the rest of the group, I feel like they won't cause nearly as much trouble as he will and you know how to keep him in place."

She groaned at the thought of it just being her and Merle but she knew he was right, "Yeah that sounds fair, when we have what we need we can meet you here, and we should keep radio silence unless something bad happens. If it does press twice on the talk button instead of talking straight away if you get a two beep response then we're on our way."

"Sounds good." He said and folded up the map placing it back in his bag. He turned to walk away and she grabbed his arm.

"I don't like it either, more people means more that can go wrong." She looked him in the eye and she could see the concern written all over his face, it had been there since Shane had gotten involved.

"Hey, if it gets them to shut up and off your back then it's worth it." He shrugged and saw her give him a tiny smile of thanks, "You've done more than prove your worth since you got here, more than most, and all they've done is give you a hard time. I don't care where you came from or what you did before this, but you deserve better."

She breathed out a laugh, "Thanks, it's nice to think that someone thinks I'm doing something right."

He nodded with a small smile and walked back to his tent. She pulled her pack out of her pocket and began walking down the road and Daryl got up to follow her.

"Man I would say you're pussy whipped but you aint even gettin any of that." Merle laughed at him. Daryl just waved him off and rolled his eyes and his brother couldn't help but be a little more than pissed at the girl who was taking his place. He was losing his little brother to a girl that he wasn't even fucking and it made him angry, no one takes away his little brother, certainly not a prudish bitch that was probably come college educated rich chick. He was going to have to figure out some way to fix this problem without letting Daryl know so he would still stick by his side.

Daryl bounded down to the spot where they always smoked, "You're gunna have to get some more of these when you go tomorrow, I reken your about out."

"I reken your right." She smiled at him picking on his accent.

"Don't go there woman, I don't need all of that fancy shit and proper pronunciation to be heard." He said exaggerating on the syllables of the word pronunciation.

She laughed at him, it was nice to see his joking side now and then, it suited him well, "That's a big word for the way you just used it in a sentence."

"Oh ha ha. Try and pick up some more booze while you're there too. I prefer beer though, none of that rich shit." He spoke leaning on the tree across from her.

"Warm beer is so nasty, I'm finding some whisky or vodka. It last longer." She smiled at him then remembered that Merle was going with them too, "What are you gunna do here all by yourself?"

"I'm gunna go huntin', 'bout time to anyhow." He looked up at the sky, "Too bad I won't have my lucky charm there."

"Don't worry I'm sure I'll make it up to you somehow." She grinned at him seductively.

"Imma hold ya to it." He looked at her with a small smile, only one that could come from Daryl Dixon, and she felt a shiver up her spine. He still didn't understand it, why someone like her would even want to think about sex with someone like him, let alone actually do it. But he just let it to human nature to need to release things now and again, which is what they did, they weren't dating, or a couple, she never said she wanted to be and that's what would confuse him, is if she ever decided she wanted more from him, and he wasn't sure if he could give it to her. He was broken from his past, never actually known someone to care about him, hell he didn't even know why she was his friend, he was the reason she got left behind.

"You're doing it again." She looked at him, her voice flat. He looked up at her with confusion and she sighed, "Thinking about why I would ever want to be friends with backwoods redneck Daryl Dixon. Or why I would ever want to sleep with him. I can tell you why, if you really want to know."

He knew what was coming, the pity, or the want to make the memories of her dad mad, that's the only reason girls had ever hung around him before, he didn't want to say it, but he couldn't stop himself, "Yeah, I do."

"You're real Daryl Dixon. You always lay it out, not afraid to be blunt, sure you may put on an act in front of the others and when your brother is around, but I know it's not the whole you. You do what you think your brother would want you to do and act like you don't care what the others think, but sometimes you do. And it's the fact that you know you do the wrong thing sometimes but when it counts you don't that I like. It's the fact that you have a sense of honor, whether you show it or not that I like."

"That aint true. I don't do nothin' right. I don't have no sense of honor." He kicked the ground with his boot feeling like he did back in high school, when everyone told him the things he had just said.

"Then why do you go hunting once a week and bring back enough food for everyone to have some?" She lifted his chin to make him look at her and he still avoided eye contact, "My point has been made. So stop thinking about it. It's not a good look on you."

"All those nice things you say then you call me stupid." He breathed out a laugh.

"I didn't say that. I implied that thinking about all the things that you think are wrong with you makes you ugly." She said releasing his chin to cross her arms waiting for his reply.

"Oh so now I aint ugly neither." He looked up at him and she knew he was teasing on her.

She just kept her stance, "Do you think I would sleep with someone who was ugly? Why do you think I turn Merle down so much."

He let out a laugh at her statement, "Hey now, he's still my brother."

"Well, you sir, got the better genetics." She said before turning to walk back to camp and he took a second to watch her walk away, always enjoying the view. He followed her back to camp and she crawled into her tent, like she always did and part of him wished she would stay out and keep him company even though they rarely ever had anything to talk about since most of the things from the days before were too unwanted to talk about.

She stripped out of her pants and jacket, hating how tight they always got in the Georgia heat and began to get things ready for the next day. She picked a few knives that she could keep in her belt and quiver and the dirtiest set of clothes she had, since she figured it was only going to get worse in the city. There was as much of a knock as could be at the zipper of her tent and heard Daryl whispering to see if she was still awake. She unzipped it and scooted back so she was sitting Indian style.

He was squatting down at the door of her tent and looked away when he saw she was just in her underwear and a tank top. The tattoo that went from her thigh to her hip was easy to see in just her underwear, if she reached up he could see the top part of it when she wore jeans and a low-cut shirt but he was sure no one else had ever noticed it before. The stars going up her thigh and twisting around her hip to her back was very flattering on her figure, but the words that they surrounded were covered up by the hip of her panties. _Counting Stars_, she said it was from a song that meant a lot to her but he'd never heard it. But it was the most he knew about any of the ink that was etched into her skin, she never talked about the word Fight that ran across the middle of her forearm, and almost always had her scythe hidden. He had asked if she was ashamed of them once, or if she regretted getting them and all she had replied was, "No, they just make me remember things that I'm not ready to yet in this world, it was a lot easier for me to look at them before the world went to shit."

She noticed him blushing slightly as he looked away from her half-dressed body, "Really? It's not like you haven't seen it before."

"I know, it's just not how I expected ya ta be." He looked over at her keeping eye contact, not trying to eye her amazing figure.

"So what's up? I take it you didn't come over here to blush like a school boy." She smirked at him.

"Shut up, I am not." He looked away from her again and he heard her laugh, "I wanted ta bring ya this, I know you'll be around a lot of walkers tomorrow and I know ya aint fond of the city. It's bigger than any of the knives you carry and ya should be able to hook it on your belt loops."

He pushed a sheathed machete at her still not looking directly at her. She couldn't help but giggle as she smiled, he really was acting like a school boy and she thought it was cute on him. He heard the noise that escaped her throat, "What the hell are ya laughin at? If ya don't want it I'll take it back."

"I never said that." She said grabbing the weapon and her hand inadvertently landed on his. This was the first time they had ever really touched in a small way other than the slight brushes when she passed him a lighter. He looked up at her and his eyes locked on hers and she was shocked by the intensity of his gaze.

"Just be careful tomorrow. I didn't drag your ass back here that first day just for you to die in the city." She didn't have a chance to respond as he was already turning and walking away. Was he actually concerned…for her?

The next morning Daryl was leaving for his hunt as they were getting ready to leave for the city. Merle gave him a pat on the back before joining the group and watched as his brother took a cigarette from Angel.

They didn't say a word to each other as she passed it to him, he tucked it behind his ear and just gave her a nod, she did the same and watched as he turned around heading into the forest. She watched him for a moment, wondering if he had forgotten something when he turned to look at her. He just gave her a once over then stared at her with a partial frown. She nodded to him again with a slight smile and this time patted the machete on her hip. Angel watched as he hesitated, then just turned around and walked away again.

She walked over to the rest of the group and followed Glenn as they began for the city. She stole a look at the skyline and remembered everything that had happened there, all the dead, all the screaming, and all the fear. It had been just like the war, but this time there hadn't been gunshots getting fired at her, instead it was zombies in civilian clothing moaning towards them, and sometimes zombies in uniform. It made her stomach churn to think about it, so she tried not to, she would just have to focus on the task at hand, it was how she had always made it through before.

This time her task: Getting her and the other people in the group back to the campsite alive.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So this one is mostly an Angel chapter but dont worry there will be plenty of Daryl in the next one when he returns from Atlanta. Also when I first wrote the phrase 'Skinning his squirrels' I had to let out a laugh because it made me think of 'Busting his balls' and I've decided that I'm going to start using that phrase now even if no one gets it, haha! But let me know what you guys think! :)**

Angel was ignoring Merle as much as she could as they grabbed ammo and knives to take back to camp. She smiled when she saw a poncho and grabbed it for Daryl knowing he would hate it. She knew being in a city that this store wouldn't have much in the way of hunting things and it would be more of camping so she grabbed what she thought that they could utilize at camp. Merle watched as she grabbed some bolts that were the right size for his brothers bow and stuffed them in her bag before moving on to arrows that were the right size for her. Merle looked at her and laughed, "So you grocery shoppin for my little brother now?"

"He only has two bolts left," She stated investigating something that claimed to be a water purifier, "Can't do much with two bolts."

"What's your deal with him? You aint fuckin him, so why are you hangin' around him so much?" Merle leaned on a counter.

"Because I like him." She turned to look at him, "He's your brother, you know him better than I do, why are you questioning why I choose to be his friend?"

"Because girlie, no one just wants to be friends with a Dixon. We aren't the ones that people choose to be friends with." Merle was wondering if he was going to get an answer to tell Daryl or if he was just going to have to get rid of her like he thought.

She sighed not really wanting to put up with him, "I chose to be Daryls friend, he's worth it. You on the other hand are very debatable." She looked at her bag, "I think we're good to go."

Merle took his rifle and shot out the front door. Angel looked from the walkers now getting drawn to the door shoving their way in to Merle, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Sorry sweetheart, but I can't have Daryl changin his mind about robbin the camp just because you're there." Merle aimed the gun at her so she wouldn't move as he backed up to the back exit of the store that they were supposed to take to the back streets to join up to with the other group. He grabbed a metal baseball bat and grinned at her, "My brother depends on no one but me, and when I tell him that you trigger happy and it drew a horde and you got eaten alive he'll know that the only person he can depend on is me and that it'll stay that way."

She swallowed hard with the rifle still aimed at her and the walkers quickly breaking through the glass heading towards her. Angel knew Merle wasn't as good a shot as Daryl but she knew he could kill her with one shot so she waited until he lifted his sights from her to be able to close the door. She took off running towards it but when she hit the door it was blocked and she knew he had put the baseball bat through it, "Merle! You son of a bitch!"

The moaning behind her took her attention and she turned to see a huge horde of walkers coming straight for her, god how she hated this city. She already had a large group of them coming towards her and the stairs were across the store, behind the group. Angel looked around and knew she couldn't go through them so she would have to go over them, it might have been years since she had to do an obstacle course, but she was sure she could still manage with it being a literal life and death situation.

She jumped up and grabbed a support beam, pulling herself up just as a walker grabbed her boot. She kicked it and used as much strength as she could in her abs and pulled her legs up behind her so she was flexing flat across the beams. She crawled as fast as she could across them, hearing the metal bend under her weight. Angel moved faster, seeing that she was halfway to the door where the stairs were but the walkers were underneath her and beginning to crawl up each other to try to get to her.

Her breathing was becoming labored as she could feel the beams slicing through her jeans and starting to scar up her skin, she could feel the sweat flowing down her nose and neck as she tried to move faster. The walkers were already getting backed up to the door. She wouldn't have a chance if she were to jump down, she took in a deep breath as she pulled her dog tags out so they would be visible as a walker and released her legs and hoped the momentum would be enough to push the door open. Her weight through her into a walker and as the door gave away her she felt her feet crush through its waist, cutting it in half as they were both flung though the door. She quickly sliced through its skull with the machete and killed the few that were blocking her way to getting the door shut behind her and felt as their blood covered her neck and torso.

Once the door had been shut she dropped to her knees still hearing them pushing towards it trying to get through and calmed her breathing. She wiped her eyes realizing she hadn't been sweating as much as she had been crying. Angel knew her only way to survive was to somehow get back to the group, or to camp, but she also knew that managing to get through the city without a horde of walkers seeing her was about as rare as her not killing Merle when she saw him next. It had been hard enough to get out of the city when there had been real living people and not just the walking dead but despite the fact that the other refugees were just blocks away it felt like it was just her and flesh eaters.

She couldn't believe him, or what he had said about them robbing the camp. But then she remembered how Daryl had followed him around like a dog when she first got there and knew it had been Merles idea, every bad thing they did was always Merles idea. She prayed Daryl didn't believe him, that someone at camp or in the group wouldn't believe him, that they would come looking for her knowing that Merle was a liar, but they knew Merle better than they did her, the only one that would know it wasn't true was Glenn, and what was he going to do against Merle and Andrea.

Angel weaved through hallways and rooftops and heard someone shooting from another part of the city, it was somewhat close and she knew the type of rifle that it was, she knew it was Merle. He was such a dumbass but he was helping her out by drawing the walkers to the noise and getting them away from where she was.

She was drenched in blood and brain matter after an hour or so and her limbs were beginning to tire, it didn't matter how good of a solider you were enough action can wear you out. And that's when she heard it, she didn't care who it was, but it meant there was someone alive, they were an idiot but they were alive enough to turn on a car alarm and it was heading straight towards the road in front of her. Slicing and crushing the skulls of the walkers that hadn't begun responding to the noise, she ran from the alley way and saw a Dodge Challenger speeding towards her. She screamed for it and recognized the hat in the divers seat.

Glenn saw something running for the car and although she was covered in blood, those body guards and bag were unmistakable, "ANGEL!"

He slammed on the breaks as he rolled down the window and she threw her bag in and jumped in through the window, knowing she didn't have much time with the swarm of walkers catching up on them fast. She was glad he knew her enough to know that once her legs were inside the car she would be fine for him to drive off and he did.

"Merle said you were dead! Devoured by geeks!" He said with disbelief as he watched her exhale a ragged breath.

"And you believed him? You believed Merle Dixon?!" She said giving him a look of disbelief.

Glenn looked at the steering wheel sadly, "I didn't want to, but we had heard the gun shots and I guess I just didn't want to believe that someone would leave another person to die like that."

"Yeah, well… He left me behind, trapped me in the store." She saw how upset he looked with himself, "I'm alive and in a Challenger, thanks to you I might add. Why do you have this thing anyways?"

Glenn looked at her with a new proud look on his face about the car he was driving and explained to her about the man he had found in a tank, he said his name was Rick and how he had a moving truck with the rest of the group in it.

As they left the city Angel tried to reach under the dash while he was driving to turn off the alarm, but had no luck. She looked at him with a smile, "I guess we'll just have to enjoy the feeling of a stolen car!"

He gave out a cry of victory and she laughed and then realized she had survived a second trip into the city, and had survived against all odds and joined in on his yelling.

The pulled up into camp and she listened to the yelling and frantic people who gathered around the car and Shane was upset about the car and trying to get onto Glenn about it, Dale joined in but was a tad softer in his talking until Angel stood up out of the seat and everyone saw she was covered in blood, and they looked at her, "Dale I tried to get the alarm off but it wouldn't go."

She laughed when Glenn couldn't help but say that he got a cool car. When Angel heard the truck pull up and the back get lifted for everyone to get out her mood quickly changed, figuring that a beaten up Merle would be coming out. As T-dog and Jacqui saw her their expressions became happy and as Andrea ran past her to Amy she called out to them, "Where is he? Where the hell is Merle Dixon."

T-dog pulled her off to the side and explained that he had gotten left on the roof. She watched as the new guy, presumably Rick embraced Carl and Lori, her mood softening she looked back at the man in front of her, "That'll probably be better for him than what I would have done."

She watched the reunited family and couldn't help but smile and give a sniffle as she said she was returning to her tent to change. She thought about what it would be like if she found her brother and her squad, if she found the only family she had left remaining. She choked back a sob as she took off her shirt her dog tags getting caught in the fabric and prayed that they were alive. Although her tags said no preference she hoped there was someone, something out there watching over the people she loved since she wasn't able to.

After washing herself off and changing her clothes, deciding to throw the ones from the day away she joined the group at the fire pit and listened to Rick as people asked him questions, much like they did her the day she arrived. Her stomach dropped when Daryl was brought up. T-Dog said he would take the fall for it but Glenn piped up saying it wouldn't sound good coming from him. After a few moments of banter she noticed Dale giving her a look, "Don't worry about Daryl, I'll deal with him."

"And how do you expect to keep him from going on a rampage?" Shane cocked his head at her.

"Because I know Daryl, he wouldn't be fond of the idea that his brother locked me in a room to die." She said returning his look just without the question he had on his face.

"How is it you two got so close anyhow?" Andrea asked, having wanted to know for a while.

"When you hunt with a man and give him cigarettes, its just like food, they'll do what it takes to keep that around. Then after a while we just became friends." She shrugged her shoulders.

"How could you put up with him in the first place? Before you became friends?" Amy lifted her head from her sisters shoulder.

Angel shrugged once again, "He saved my life in a way, if he hadn't of been there I would have stepped in that trap with nine walkers behind me and I wouldn't have been able to get away. He's really not that bad when you remove Merle from the situation and figure out how to deal with the edges."

She stood up and walked away right after T-Dog did the same and she returned to her tent, her muscles sore and her bones achy but despite how tired she was she couldn't manage to fall asleep, Merles words and Daryls reaction were haunting her thoughts and she rolled around in her sleeping bag until the early hours of the morning when exhaustion beat the thoughts in her head.

* * *

She heard a scream and bolted upright, reaching for Daryls machete. Once she heard the kids screaming for their parents a little ways off from camp she quickly put on her pants and grabbed the machete. Arriving just as Dale decapitated the one walker she immediately noticed the bolts in the deer's side, they were Daryls which meant he wasn't too far away.

She listened to the steps coming towards them and recognized them as being the same way Daryl always walked, everyone has a walk, and as a hunter it's good to know what your partners sound like. She couldn't help but smile as he popped out of the trees and started complaining about the walker that had been eating his deer. He looked up at her as he said, "Whaddya think? Think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?"

Everyone shook their heads and murmured no's and she laughed at him, "Only if you're the first to try it."

"Fuckin' funny." He said then shot the head that reanimated, "Come on people what the hell? It's gotta be the brain. Expected better of you Angel."

"Hey now," She said following him to camp, "I got there after the head was off."

She cringed as he started calling for Merle and was about to say something when she was cut off by Shane and she held in her groan. Of course he wouldn't listen to her and just let her tell Daryl about it, no he had to be _The Man_.

When Shane told him there had been a problem in Atlanta, Daryls eyes jumped to her and she saw the fear and sadness in them before he looked down at the ground towards Shane. When Rick joined into the conversation she saw Daryls defenses go up, she knew she was going to have to stop him from doing something stupid he would regret because he let his emotions, which he barely showed and she was sure the others in the group thought he didn't have any, get in the way.

Daryl began to yell and she tried to call his name but he was already leaping for Rick throwing his squirrels first as a distraction, Shane knocked him to the side and when Daryl landed she saw him reaching for his knife. She jumped in front of him holding up the machete and she watched as he hesitated, "Get out of the way Ang."

"Daryl!" She called out to him as his eyes darted around looking from her to Shane to Rick, she wanted his attention on her, "He's right. Merle…He left me, he left me to die. Locked me in a store full of walkers."

"What!?" He yelled and in his moment of hesitation Shane grabbed him from behind and put him in a choke hold. She saw his fury come back but she didn't know what about as he struggled against the man holding him and Rick came over to whisper in his face.

Angel slid the machete back and when Shane finally let him go he pushed Daryls body towards her feet and she bent down behind him, placing a hand on his back when she noticed T-Dog walking up. Her hand was mostly for comfort and to make sure he was okay after the hold that he had just been released from but also so if he took off after T-Dog she could stop him. When he stood up and walked away she saw him press a hand to his eye and she knew he was holding back, his voice was broken, "Just tell me where he is, so's I can go get 'em."

She closed her eyes tightly at his words, knowing this wasn't the first time he had probably needed to pull his brothers ass out of the fire. And she knew he would go to the city, to find Merle, but she didn't know what he would do when he found him. Daryl walked off to get his bow after Rick said he was going back and she followed him while Rick went to go change, her voice was soft and it made him hate his brother more knowing that she would connect their behavior and think that he would have left her too, everyone always assumed he would have the same actions of his brother, "Daryl, I'm sorry."

"Why?" He asked and snapped back around at her and saw her give a small jump, he hated himself for how she would look at him, but hell he should have known it would happen eventually, "He left you there, why the hell should you be sorry?"

Angel pulled out a cigarette and motioned for him to come with her while they smoked, "Because he's your brother and I know how I would feel if it were my bother on that rooftop."

She was a little shocked when he grabbed her shoulder and held her still while he asked, "What happened?"

"Merle and I went to go to a sporting goods shop and," She wasn't sure if she should tell him the truth or not…whether he would believe her or not, "And he tried hitting on me again and this time when it didn't work I guess he just got overly mad and since he knew I wasn't afraid to fight back I guess he decided to shoot out the doors so the walkers could get at me then he went out the back exit and locked me in so I couldn't get out. If Glenn hadn't of stolen that car and driven by the alley way I was in then I would still be stuck in the city."

"When I find him I'm gunna beat his face in." Daryl said his voice and grip softening and she could see that he was, despite what she had just told him, still alive. His body went stiff as her arms laced around his neck and she pulled him in for a hug.

"I'm sorry that it happened, I would rather him be here too so I could beat his face in." She felt a small laugh in his chest, "Merles tough, I'm sure he'll be fine when we go back."

"You aint goin'." He said and she pulled back and looked at him confused, "You hate the city and I don't wanna risk you not comin' back again."

"But I'll have you there to keep an eye on me, just like if we were hunting." She said with a smile.

"You said you'd repay me on not comin' huntin' with me this time, so repay it by not goin'." When he spoke she could hear it again in his voice, concern for her.

She nodded slowly but detached the machete from her hip, "Then take this with you."

"No," He pushed it back at her, "It managed to get you out of a store over run with walkers, so I want you to hold onto it while I'm gone, just in case."

"Okay." She attached it to her hip again. She saw Rick leaving his tent and Daryl locking his crossbow, "Wait! I have something for you!"

She ran to her tent real quick where her bag was and grabbed the new bolts for him, she ran back and handed them to her, "Figured the more the merrier right?"

"Right." He gave her a tiny smile given the circumstances. She listened as Glenn was asked to go and when T-Dog volunteered, she gave a smile at his response to Daryl as to why he would want to go back.

Everyone must have assumed she was going because they kept using the number five and when Shane said that was five fewer people to protect camp she butted in, looking at Daryl, "Four. I'm not going."

She rolled her eyes as Daryl gave her a pat on the leg when Rick started talking about guns and as he started talking to Lori she walked over to Glenn, "Daryl maybe an ass sometimes, but put up with him, for me?"

He looked up at her and sighed, "Look Glenn I know I already owe you my life but please, as a favor, don't let Merle get to him when you find him, and if it happens you can tell him I told you that."

"Yeah, okay." He said with a small nod and left to get the moving van.

Angel couldn't help but laugh at Daryl as he used his foot to honk the horn then yelled at Rick. She walked up to the back of the van where he was and he just gave her the same nod he had the morning before, and she returned it once again patting the machete he had given her. She turned and walked away to where Carol and Jacqui were skinning his squirrels and picked on up joining them. Carol looked up at her, "You care about him."

"As I said once you learn how to deal with the rough edges he really isn't that bad." She shrugged slicing through the skin.

"Girl, that is not what she meant by care." Jacqui smiled at her.

Angel gave a tiny laugh, "I worry about him is all, he reminds me of someone I used to know, kept his emotions inside but used to let them run his life. Don't want to see them end up the same."

"What happened to him?" Sophia asked.

Carol watched as Angel hesitated for a moment, not sure how to answer her daughter and assumed the answer was a difficult one, "He died kiddo, that's why you should never be rash and always try to make the best decision you always can based on what you are given, you have to be logical and use that brain of yours, and I've seen your school work you have a good one."

Jacqui and Carol laughed as they noticed she completely changed the conversation to school work and how smart Sophia was as to not have the girl linger on the fact that Angel was talking about a death. When Ed called to Carol about laundry Angel saw the woman stiffen and she looked at Carol, "You guys go on, I can finish up here."

"Are you sure it's a lot of squirrels." Carol looked at her then back up to Ed.

"Yeah, don't want the men to go without clean clothes now do we?" She smiled and Carol knew that she was picking the harder work so that Carol wouldn't get punished for it later and gave her a small smile of thanks back.

She was on the next to last squirrel when the group of women came back up, Sophia and Carl were next to each other as she taught them how to skin an animal. She held Sophia back as she watched Carol supporting Ed, who were both bloody, back to their tent. When Carol came back out to her daughter she wrapped her arms around the girl and held her close trying not to cry and Angel told her to wait there for a moment.

Crawling into her tent she pulled out some aspirin she had and stuck it in a bowl and crushed it up adding some water to it to make it a paste. When she returned to her make shift skinning station Carol was still there but Lori had taken Sophia over with her and Carl. She sat next to Carol with the paste in hand, "Here, put this where the skin is broken, it'll help take the pain away, heal faster, and fight infection."

"Thank you." Carols voice was quiet as she did was Angel said. As she was applying the paste Carol looked over to Angel, "Why don't you ask it? Ask why I haven't left him yet."

"Well I suppose that the legal system nowadays is making it kinda hard to get a divorce." She replied and when she barely got a smile in response she added, "Plus I know that people say it to you all the time whether vocal or only looks and I'm sure if you had the ability to you would have."

"How do you know I don't have the ability to?" Carol asked.

"Because you're not as weak as your husband likes to think. If you were you'd be dead by now in this world." Angel looked at her and Carol knew she wasn't being mean, but truthful, "The weak don't survive here to long, nor do the ones that give up. You're still here after all this time so you aren't weak and you haven't given up. You just have to find that fight that's inside you. You might think you don't have a lot left but when you find it, it'll be strong."

Carol looked up at her, "You've been through a lot haven't you?"

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Angel gave her a smile and Carol tried to return it. She gave the woman a hug before returning to skin Daryls squirrels.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: So this chapter starts to reveal some of Angels past and all that jazz plus her trying to deal with Daryl while dealing with it. No control16 ITS LIKE YOU ARE READING MY MIND! I love it keep the ideas and stuff coming, and thats to all of you I'm always open to what you guys want to see :) Let me know what you think of this one!**

Angel sat with Sophia went Carol went to check on Ed, she was teaching the girl how to play Dots and Boxes and they were on their third round. Lori and Carl came over to them and Carl asked his mom if he could play with them and Lori agreed. Angel looked up at the boy, "Why don't you play winner little man?"

He nodded his head excitedly and she laughed. So of course lost on purpose so the two kids could play together and when she was giving them both tips on how to win Carol came back over, "You sure are good with kids…Did you have any?"

"Oh no, never had the time or nor was I ever in the proper circumstances to have one." She smiled, "Not that I didn't want any, I just wanted to make sure I could take care of them."

Her smile faltered as her thoughts went to the little boy in Iraq, her largest moment of weakness but her strongest point as a human. Carol and Lori smiled at her and Lori commented first, "That's very responsible of you in this day and age."

"Yeah well my grandpa was a preacher, a very different kind of preacher the one that hunted and wasn't afraid to tell you to shove off, but a preacher none the less. He helped to make sure me and my brother had good moral values carved into our brains by the time we were ten." She laughed quietly to herself as she remembered her grandfather sitting on their porch with a shotgun in his lap telling them stories of the old days back in Korea, "Plus I made a promise to someone a long time ago."

She looked up from the two kids when she heard Morales laughing as Amy and Andrea walked up with a whole group of fish, knowing that if they hadn't someone would have asked for an elaboration of her promise. They stopped their game and listened at the group talking, only to be interrupted by Dale coming up to them about Jim. When Carol and Lori called for their respective children Angel decided to join the group as they went up to see what Jim was doing.

They listened as Jim and Shane spoke and when he brought up Ed and what Shane had done to him she felt Sophia stiffen by her side as Carol placed her arm around her daughters back. Angel's instinct took over and she placed her hand on Carols back letting her know that she was there, and that she would be there to support her. She felt her heart stop and her hand went to her mouth as Jim spoke about the death of his family and for once in her life she was glad she didn't have a husband or kids, because she knew she probably wouldn't have been able to live after what he had gone through.

She walked with Carol and Sophia back to the camp and sat with them as Carol began her lessons for the day, knowing that Sophia often asked her for help on her school work. She liked the girl, reminded her of Katie, another little girl who Angel and her group had found when they were first leaving Atlanta. Her parents had locked her in a closet when the walkers got into their house and the door was strong enough to keep them out but her parents died in the process, leaving her an orphan. Angel took her with them, it had been a part of her promise, and Katie became like a little sister to her and because of how important she was to Angel, she knew that the group was taking care of her.

When Carol and Sophia went to take Ed some water and he refused to come out to join them, Carol watched as Ed grabbed her daughters arm with that look in his eye and she remembered what Angel had said to her earlier that day. That was the first time she had had the strength to stand up to her husband, even if it was in a small way, since he had started hitting her. She couldn't help but smile as Sophia sat in between her and Angel, them continuing their game from earlier, and was happy that the two had taken to liking each other so much, she was happy that her daughter would have a strong female role-model in her life until she had the strength to be as strong as Angel was, and Carol knew that with Angel around that she would keep getting stronger not just for her sake but also her daughters.

Angel smiled as she play fought with Sophia over their food and listened as Dale told his story about his watch. When Amy got up to go to the bathroom she gave a smile at her words to her sister and finished off her meal and connected the last dot in her game with Sophia. She placed her plate on the ground and stood up heading for her tent, but stopped and turned when she began hearing a scream coming from the RV, it was Amy…and a walker and more coming out of the forest from behind the vehicle.

Her head snapped to the people around the pit and saw that as Shane stood up he knocked Sophia back and Carol was being pulled by Lori and Carl. She screamed the girl's name and took off running. Sophia's head jerked in her direction after hearing her name and ran to Angel since her path to her mother was blocked by the dead. Angel scooped the girl up in her arms, "Hold on tight and I need you to let me know if anything comes up behind me. I'll get you to your mom."

She heard the girl give a whimper of acknowledgement as she sliced through the skull of a walker. She was making her way to the group where Carol was when she felt Sophia tighten around her and hear her scared voice, "Angel!"

She turned swinging cutting into the brain of the walker that Sophia had pointed out. She heard Carol still screaming out her daughter's name and assumed that she couldn't see the girl in her wrapped around her body, "Carol! I have her!"

Her gun would be more affective but she couldn't get to it with one arm around Sophia and then she saw a break in the walkers that Shane had made and bolted up towards where Carol was. One walker got in her way and she quickly cut it down. Carol saw her running with her daughter towards her and she threw her arms out for the girl. When Angel had passed her off she took her gun out and began head shotting walkers that were attacking other people. She was glad she always thought to keep an extra clip in her back pocket since the city and pulled it out, just dropping her old one on the ground, she could get it later.

Daryl, Rick and the others busted through the trees with more guns and helped make quick work of the ones that were left and when Angel turned around at the sound of moaning behind her she froze. The first thing that had caught her eye were the metal tags glinting off of the fire and that drew her eyes to the fatigues he was wearing the only part of his name visible was SON. Her heart stopped and she couldn't pull the trigger for a moment, but she knew if this was her Addison, if this was her brother she would be the one to pull the trigger, she would have to be, and when she did the body crumpled to the ground and there were no more shots fired.

Angel fell to her knees and both Daryl and Glenn saw this but Glenn moved faster her to her side. He noticed her hands were shaking as she reached for the tags, hoping to god when she read his name it wasn't him. Then she felt guilty, even if this wasn't her brother it might have been someone elses. Glenn watched as she plucked the tags from his neck, then as her face softened he squatted down next to her and placed a hand on her back, "Was he…did you serve with him?"

Her eyes locked on his and her voice was a mix of angry and scared, "How do you know?"

"When you got in the car," He stuttered as she pushed him up against a tree far enough away so no one would hear, but Daryl was watching the two, "they were out and I didn't want to ask because I saw you tuck them back in like you didn't want anyone to notice."

"I didn't, and I still don't." She released her grip on him and she looked at the tags in her hand, "And no I didn't serve with him, but he was in Atlanta, I remember his name on my roster."

She wasn't completely lying, that is where she first saw his name, but she remembered him as the one she couldn't be merciful to, but at least she had made up for it in the end.

"You remember the names of all soldiers on your list?" Glenn looked at her astounded.

"No, but a name like Robert Robertson kind of sticks out." She gave a small smile and felt her body shaking at the memories from Atlanta, before she turned to walk away she looked at him, "Don't tell anyone else please."

He watched as she walked away, "Why? Why don't you want anyone to know? We already have cops its not like we're going to worry that'll you'll try and take over."

She opened her mouth looking at him over her shoulder and the words got caught in her throat, _Because we abandoned out post, Because we deserted_. When she couldn't speak she just dropped her head and headed back to her tent, not saying anything to Daryl or even registering the cries of Andrea. Before crawling into her sleeping bag she tucked the tags away in a side pocket of her bag and heard the metal clink against the others that were in there.

Daryl watched her walk past him and he wasn't sure what to do, he wanted to go after her but he thought he should just wait until she came out for a cigarette, but when a half hour passed and she still hadn't left he went to go check on her. He called out her name and got no response but he knew she wasn't asleep because he could hear her breathing, very loudly. He pulled away a small part of the flap to her tent and looked in to see her in her sleeping bag her head in her elbow, fingers tightly gripping her hair and her body curled up under the thin fabric. She was shaking and so he crawled in without invitation to her tent for the first time. Laying down next to each other he spoke her name again but softer this time.

"Go away Daryl." Her voice was shaky and he placed a hand on her side, "I don't like people seeing me like this."

He snaked his hand to the side of her face, trying to turn her to him but she didn't move, "Like what? A little emotional?"

"Weak. And scared." She pushed her face farther into the pillow, not caring his hand was stuck between the two, "Once people see it once it's all they see after."

"I don't think I could ever see you weak, cuz you ain't." He felt her body relax a little, "Just because you have a moment of bein human, don't make you weak. I don't have weak friends, and I can't lose you now, you're the only thing I got left."

Her head turned to look at him, wondering when the hell he had become so profound, and he could tell that she would have been crying by now if she hadn't been fighting it, "You mean…Merle was…"

"Gone. Cut off his hand and left. All I got now is you." He held her face a little tighter and looked into her deep blue eyes, "Is it one of them things you don't want to remember yet?"

She turned her head back around and just nodded. When her hair moved he caught sight of the scar on the back of her neck and began trying to figure out what it was from, he actually had time to study it now, normally it was just fleeting glances, but at the moment he could really look at it. It was bigger than a cigarette, hell even bigger than a cigar, and there were smaller scared dots on the outside of the large one and he realized he would probably never know what it was from unless he asked, which he knew he had no right too, he wouldn't want to answer questions about the ones on his back. Her soft voice took him from his thoughts, "Would…would it be crossing the line if I asked you to stay? Even if just for a little bit?"

"No, not tonight." He said resting his head on the nape of her neck, realizing that they had both had horrible days, and if there was one thing they needed right now, was a friend.

When she woke up the next morning he wasn't there and she wasn't surprised, Daryl was always up before her even though she was used to getting up at the ass crack of dawn. She looked down at her clothes and decided they were fine enough to not change out of and left to go help the others dispose of the bodies. She was greeted by Sophia almost immediately and the girl wrapped her arms around her waist. As they walked up to Carol she stood and looked at Angel, "I never got the chance to thank you last night for protecting her."

"Its fine Carol, all part of that promise I made." Angel gave her a smile. Her head turned as she heard a gun cock and looked to see Andrea still sitting by Amy with her gun aimed at Rick. He backed up slowly and joined them by the fire pit. She just listened as they talked about how to deal with Amy, Daryl saying they should take the shot, but she stayed quiet, she knew what she would do if that were her brother lying there but it wasn't, so it was Andreas call.

She walked slowly behind Daryl knowing she should help with the bodies and as Glenn got upset at Daryl and Morales at dragging one of their people to the walker pit she couldn't help but agree, she placed her hand on the upset mans shoulder and he looked at her as she looked at the other two men, "Glenns right, they might not be human anymore but we still are."

Daryl just nodded and he and Morales turned around taking the body to the other pile. When Daryl began to yell about karma she just pushed her fingers to her eyes causing colors to appear behind her lids and knew that the shock of yesterday had worn off and the emotion left was anger. When she went to go after him she heard Jacqui yelling about a walker having bit Jim and she felt bad for him as everyone seemed to encircle him. When Daryl lifted up his shirt they all saw the teeth marks that had been left in his skin.

When they moved over to talk about what to do about Jim and Amy she listened as Daryl spoke of a pickaxe to the head and she opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Shane. When Daryl responded that that's what he would want she looked over at him, "No it's not, not while you were still alive."

Her thoughts went to the syringe in her bag, one she had carried with her since Iraq and looked at Jim wondering if perhaps he would want it now. She listened as they talked about the CDC and Fort Benning which she knew the latter no longer had any military there, they had all been moved to the CDC, how that hell hole was doing she had no idea. She glanced over and saw Glenn looking at her out of the corner of her eye and his look was pleading hoping she could shine some light on the military status their group was trying to figure out. She just shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what to tell him as she bit the skin of her thumb lightly.

When Daryl took off towards Jim with the pickaxe Angels reflexes kicked in and she wrapped her arms around his waist and dug her heels into the ground, holding him still as Rick put a gun to his head, "We don't kill the living."

He lowered his axe as her voice entered his ears, "Daryl, please, stop."

When Shane told him to put the weapon down he looked over his shoulder at her and then to Rick who was still holding a gun to him and when his eyes returned to hers she had a pleading look in her eye, she whispered soft enough for only him to hear, Rick only hearing a murmur, "If you can't lose me, then I cant lose you."

He dropped the axe and reached into her pocket, grabbing her pack and walked away from camp taking her with him. After they had a silent cigarette she climbed onto the hood of the Challenger to watch him continue driving holes into the heads of the dead. She watched as Carol walked over to him, wanting to be the one that put Ed to his final rest. After she hit him the second time she saw Daryl moving to stop her and she jumped from the car, stopping him, "She needs this, she needs real release, to get it all out."

When she finally stopped she looked over to Angel with tears in her eyes and she dropped the axe and walked over to her and Angel just put her arms around her as Carol whispered, "Thank you."

She nodded as the woman walked back to her daughter and once again her head turned towards Andrea and Amy as she heard the telltale sound of growling. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rick and Shane walking towards her with their guns prepared to shoot but Angel could see that Andrea was just saying goodbye, a chance not given to many. Quickly she sidestepped in front of them, blocking their way while attempting to seem oblivious to the fact that that's what she did, and heard Shane about to say something when the gun went off and Amy fell to the ground once again.

Angel walked with Carol and Sophia behind the truck Daryl was driving and remained quiet as they spoke. When it came time to put the bodies in the ground and it was Ed's turn Carol looked at her, "Angel, will you help me?"

"Always." She gave her new friend a soft smile. She carried his torso, the heavier part still despite he had been gnawed on to his ribcage and she let Carol down in the grave first and then made her way down and placed him completely down. She turned to look at Sophia, "Do you want to say goodbye sweetheart?"

Sophia nodded but only bent down and placed a kiss to her hand them moved it to the wrapped bodies forehead. Angel exited first then moved to help Carol out. Daryl despite his anger of the situation watched her gentleness with the people who had lost someone and couldn't help but commend her for being able to pull it together so quick from the night before.

The rest of the night was quiet after Shane said he agreed with Rick about the CDC and everyone began getting ready to leave. Angel and Daryl went to have another cigarette and she looked up at him, "You going to the city or to look for Merle?"

"Hell that bastard is long gone by now if he's still alive, I aint gunna be able to find him." Daryl said before taking a hit, "You wanna go to the CDC? Back to the city?"

"I don't have anywhere else to go but with these people…and you." She gave him a small smile and he was happy that she didn't want to leave him either, he had never had someone who he wanted to stick by his side. They looked as they heard someone running down to them and when her eyes focus in the dark it was Sophia.

"Angel, are you coming with us to the CDC? Because I want you to stay with us." Her words were quiet.

She smiled at the young girl, "No place I'd rather be."

After Sophia gave her a hug she ran back up to her mother who was at the top of the hill where camp was and Angel turned back feeling a little sad at sort of lying to the girl, while yes she wanted to remain with them she hated the CDC with a passion for what they did, for the panic and slaughter they caused. Daryl saw how torn she looked and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Come on, better get your stuff in the truck so all you have to do is break down the tent in the morning."

* * *

Daryl held her hand the as he drove the truck, noticing her body get more tense the closer they got to Atlanta. When they had to stop for the RV's radiator hose she was glad for the chance to get out and get some air and not be moving to the place where she should have died. She listened as Rick told them that Jim wanted to be left here and as Lori said that it was Jim's call to make and not theirs, she headed back to the truck. As Daryl watched her walk away he thought she didn't want to handle the death of another person, that her strength was faltering the closer she got to the city.

She reached into the side pocket of her bag and pulled out what, to the normal eye, would look like a glasses case, but when she opened it she saw that the syringe was still intact. She closed it and walked back to where they had laid Jim against a tree. Angel listened as everyone said their goodbyes and she waited, wanting to be last. When she finally was she walked over and kneeled beside him, some of the others, including Daryl and Glenn stayed to make sure she was okay, "Jim I know you said we would need the gun, but I promise you I don't need this, so take it, in case you want it."

He watched as she opened up the case and handed him the needle and he knew that inside it was a serum that would kill him, "Does it hurt?"

"No, they say it's like falling asleep." He smiled at her and took it from her gently, keeping it in his hand. She looked back up at him, "Do…do you have a picture of them? Your family?"

He nodded, "Back pocket, in my wallet."

She carefully lifted him up so she could get to it, not wanting to cause him any pain. When she pulled out his wallet he went through it and found the picture of him, his wife, and their two sons, the oldest no more than fifteen. Handing it to him he could see the thanks in his eyes, "Its brave of you to give me this and not keep it for yourself, but then again you aren't a quitter."

"It's not quitting. Not in this situation, its easing the pain of an already existing death, don't look at it any other way." She smiled at him as she gently placed her hand on his shoulder. He nodded at her and she smiled and walked away joining Daryl.

"Where the hell did you get something like that?" He asked her slinging his crossbow over his shoulder. She saw Glenn give her a sad look and knew that he had known that the military had given it to her.

Angel just simply looked at Daryl, "Found it in a box with a label, didn't know if it would come in handy." She lied but she had held onto it for that reason. She looked back at Jim who was still holding both the liquid that would kill him and the picture of his family, "Guess it finally did."

When they hopped out of the cars at the CDC Glenn looked at all the dead bodies of men and women in uniforms piled on the ground and on sandbags and over fences. He looked back at Angel and saw her face was pale and she looked like she was going to puke. He watched as she placed her hand over her mouth and to the others it looked like she might be guarding herself from the stench but he saw it in her eyes she was trying not to cry and breakdown in front of them. What he didn't know what that Daryl too could see her distress.

She held herself together as best she could but the closer they got to the doors the more of her comrades she could see and the pools of blood by their heads were making it hard for her not to lose herself. That's when she saw him. Her Colonel still lying there by the doors with his gun in his hand. She remembered the noise as if it had just happened. He was banging on the doors trying to get them to open for his soldiers and when they didn't he just turned to her and looked, "Lieutenant Colonel Angel Addison, it's all up to you now." And then the shot rang off and he hit the ground. She didn't remember hearing herself scream after him but the burn in her throat had told her it happened and she didn't have long to linger on it as shots began to ring through the air telling them another group of the dead had headed there way.

As she looked at his body she thought she should grab his tags, but that wouldn't be fair to all the others there. She couldn't carry them all with her and he wasn't even her fault. She just looked forward and both Glenn and Daryl saw her straighten her shoulders and brush whatever thoughts that were running though her mind, away.

When Daryl called out about walkers he saw her freeze when she turned and was faced by a man in the military. He didn't know what her deal was or what she had been through in the city, but the memories of it were haunting her pretty bad here so he pushed her back and took the shot. After he started yelling at Rick keeping her behind him, protecting her from whatever ghosts were in her mind.

Even as the group got frantic he noticed she stayed calm not saying anything as he kept her behind him away from any walker that might come after them, he wasn't sure why she was calm until he turned and looked and in her eyes all the light had gone, they were as cold as ice in her head. It wasn't the city that she had hated so much, it was this place.

Angel didn't fight it or get frantic like the others. She was supposed to have died here once and she held tight to the pistol on her hip and the machete that was now in her hand, she might have frozen when she remembered but she was a solider and if she was going to die here like she should have three months ago, then she was going to go out fighting.

When a bright light came from behind her she turned around to see that a shutter had opened. _Those sons of bitches open up for a group of strangers but wouldn't open up to give food to the people who were dying to protect them_. But it meant she wasn't going to die.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: A little elaboration on what happened to Angel in this chapter and some interesting developments happen. Keep me informed on what you think! Also just in case when you reach the part it makes you wonder how old Angel is, I see her at about 27-29.**

She sat there with the needle in her arm as Jenner drew her blood. Angel avoided eye contact with him as he wrote her name on the vial because he had been giving her a weird look since he had first seen her. After he was done and heard that none of them had eaten he took them to the mess hall and showed them where to get things for a meal.

Despite her worry she couldn't help but laugh when Daryl got excited about a bottle of rum and came to sit next to her taking a swig with a smile then passing it to her. They watched as the group laughed about Carl trying some wine and not liking it and couldn't help but smile even more when Daryl started trying to get Glenn drunk, glad that he had finally stopped being mean to the boy.

Her face and body lost any joy that had managed to build when Shane asked what happened and she saw Jenners eyes land on her for a moment before answering and she noticed he glanced at her a few more times throughout his explanation. She dropped her head a little and her hand went to the back of her neck to run over her scar, something Daryl most defiantly noticed, and she listened as Glenn spoke, "Dude, you are such a buzz kill."

"I'm probably about to be more of one." Jenner said then dropped his eyes to his wine glass, "You know you were hard to place. I knew I had seen you before but when you are in normal clothes and have a smile you don't look the same. But when your friend here started asking about what happened I saw it in your eyes," He looked back up at her and everyone slowly followed his gaze to land on her, "All I had to do was picture you in the uniform and all though I may not have seen you that much, I do remember you Lieutenant Colonel."

Everyone's jaw dropped as they looked at her, she wanted to wince when she heard a harsh, but quiet tone from Daryl, "What?"

When she didn't talk Jenner continued, "The others had a nickname for you, they called you the Head Hunter, because you always got them in between the eyes. Even the ones who were still normal. Then you made a call that wasn't yours to make and that's when half the staff gave up."

"It was my call to make." She stood her eyes fixed on the doctor.

"No!" He yelled, "It wasn't your call! You ran! And when you told everyone else to they did! You left us here to die and so everyone gave up."

"You locked us out!" She almost lunged for the man but Daryls arms reached around here, holding her strained against him, "What did you want us to do? You locked us out from food and supplies! When you locked those doors my Colonel ate the end of his pistol and left me in charge. I couldn't keep my soldiers there to fight for people who were safe in an underground bunker. I had to do what I could in order to save as many of their lives as possible, they started to panic so I sent them away, told them to go look for their families. It was the only call I _could_ make."

"We had no choice but to shut the doors, the front lines had gotten over run and you had no problem shooting the ones that you lost on those front lines." He said swirling his wine in the glass looking up at her. She pulled herself from Daryls grasp as she went back her bag and reached in one of the pockets. When she walked back over to where Jenner was sitting she slammed the handful of dog tags down.

"It wasn't my call to put eighteen year olds out on the frontlines." Her voice was shaky, "They were barely out of boot when they got sent here to protect you scientists. My squad and I watched as they got pulled over the sand bags by walkers and as they were getting eaten we all made a call, a merciful call and put a bullet in their brains while they were still themselves. I wasn't the one who put them where they were, but I sure as hell didn't want to do it anymore once their lives were in my hands. As we left we grabbed the tags of every soldier we had killed this way we would remember what we'd done and so that if we ever ran into their families, we could at least do that properly. I live everyday with the weight of what happened here on my shoulders and if you want to put the deaths that happened because your people were too weak to stay and finish the job that they had locked themselves inside to finish on me then go right ahead, I can handle it. I've handled worse."

He opened his mouth but couldn't speak, the fire in her eyes was that of a fighter, someone who didn't give up or run away. Jenner had only heard from the others what happened, those who were watching when it did. When her hand reached out and scooped the tags back up he watched her retreat to her bag and place them back where they had been since the day she left the city.

Daryl looked over at her, her shoulders squared with strength like they had been before they returned to the city. He held the bottle out, knowing he would want a drink if he had just revealed something like that and she took it gently. She didn't care that almost everyone was still staring at her, she somehow felt better, like those tags in her bag weren't weighing her down anymore.

Jenner coughed in the silence then said he should probably show them where they could put their things, not looking at Angel as his eyes scanned the group. She followed in the back of the group as he explained about the lay out and noticed that everyone got excited about hot water. She didn't really care about it, she had gotten used to the cold showers in the military, but she looked forward to getting the dirt off of her from the last few days.

She sat down on the couch after shutting the door, no one had spoken to her since hearing what she said in the mess, she should have known that people wouldn't want to be near a killer, deserter, or hell even a soldier, least of all Daryl. He had already told her how much he disliked the fact that there had been a cop that pretty much took over camp, and she knew that a soldier was a lot worse than a cop.

Daryl stood outside her door, not sure if she wanted to be left alone or not when there was a voice from down the hall, he turned to see Glenn, "If you're her friend then you'll at least knock. She may not want to talk about it, but she may just need someone to be there."

Glenn returned to his room and Daryl thought of the other night in camp when she didn't want to talk about what had happened with the walker but wanted him to stay anyways and so he knocked, and was thankful when she said he could come in. When he opened the door he saw her sitting with her elbows on her knees and her head in one hand, a cigarette in the other.

He sat down next to her and realized he didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth a few times but kept drawing a blank. She didn't look at him once but after a moment of silence spoke, "I wasn't ready to face it yet…or well…I didn't want to face it. That's why I never told you that I was in the Army. I understand if you don't want anything to do with me now though."

"Why would you think that?" He looked at her, "You did what you could with what you were given. No one would blame you for makin the choice you did, some wouldn't have even been able to make it. And as I said back in camp that day, it don't really matter what you did before, all that matters to me is what you do now."

She tilted her head to look at him, "Thank you. I thought I wasn't ready to face it, but when I had no choice it felt better to let it out in the open."

"Angel," He put his hand on the side of her face making sure she would still look at him, "Don't matter what stories you have, if it means you won't ever go numb like you did outside ever again, I'll listen to 'em."

She leaned forward and laid her head in the crook of his neck, "I was supposed to die out there, when my Colonel shot himself I thought I did die. When I saw his body it brought back that feeling."

"Don't ever feel it again. You're one strong bitch and you know it. I'll remind you every damn day if I have to." He lifted her face to look at him and she had a smile.

"You won't, because I know it. I've always known it through everything I've been through, it's just that sometimes when I remember things it doesn't feel like it." She snuffed out her cigarette and stood up. He watched as she took off her jacket and headed for the bathroom, "Now time to try out this hot water everyone is excited about."

He heard the water start and a moment later her head popped back out and he could see she was just in her bra and panties, she smiled at him, "Have you taken one yet?"

"No."

She laughed, "Then why the hell are you still sitting there? I think we both have some tension from the last few days that needs to get worked out."

He couldn't help but smile as he took off his shirt and stripped out of his pants. When he walked into the bathroom she had her back to him and he saw for the first time thin lines that laced across her back. The scars weren't as thick as the one on her stomach, that one was about as thick as the ones on his back, but she had way more of them then he had. Daryl couldn't stop his hand from reaching out and running his fingers along them and when she realized what he was doing she looked over her shoulder, "Iraq. But that's a story for another day."

"Why's that?" He said placing a kiss on her neck wrapping his arms around her.

"Can't reveal everything in one sitting." She smiled as his arms pulled her body tightly to him, "A girl has to have her secrets."

"Well then let's work out the stress from the most recent one told." He lips travelled to her breast and she gasped in pleasure as the warm water cascaded over them. Daryl held her close through all of his actions not wanting her body to leave his. Her hands gripped his shoulders as the hand that wasn't wrapped around her waist travelled down in between her legs, when his calloused fingers found the patch of nerves inside of her he smiled as she tightened around him. When her hand snaked through his hair and tightened as he moved faster inside of her he couldn't wait any longer

Angel couldn't hold back the moan that escaped her lips as he slowly entered her, he had never been rough with her really, but he was being gentle with her and she wasn't complaining after the day they'd had. She felt as his hand went up to her neck and grabbed her tags in his hand before tangling his hand in her hair with the metal, it was his way of trying to tell her that he was okay with who she was. Happy that they were in the shower she looked up and blinked away the tears that she had held back for a while. When he pushed her hips forward so he could get further into her she couldn't stop his name from working its way out of her throat.

His breath was in her ear and she enjoyed the feeling of his scruff on her neck. He wanted to kiss her, he didn't think he was any good at it, but he wanted her to know, but he also knew that it had been part of their agreement, so he kissed her neck, her jaw, her cheek, anywhere that he could that wasn't her mouth. Angel could feel the burning in her stomach, but that wasn't all she felt, it was a tightness in her chest, a feeling she couldn't quite place. It didn't last long as she was distracted by her orgasm and she closed her throat, having trained herself not to make a noise. A few moments later Daryl joined her and they were left panting in the shower, foreheads pressed to the others and his arms still wrapped around her.

He reached over and turned the water off remembering what Jenner had said about the water and when he looked back to her, her eyes were still closed and she was breathing heavily through her nose, "You okay?"

She nodded and smiled, "Oh yeah, best shower I've had in a while."

He laughed as he pulled her out of the small room and handed her a towel. He couldn't help but sneak a peek as she dried herself off. He found himself thinking that if he had known that the girls in the military were as hot as she was he might have joined.

She put on a tank top and her camo pants and looked over to him seeing an amused look on his face, "What? The cat's out of the bag. I might as well be comfortable."

"Those are comfortable?" He wanted to laugh, because they didn't look like they were.

"Hell yeah, when something becomes like a second skin after ten years it becomes the most comfortable thing you own." She smiled at him then headed for the door, "Want some more rum?"

With a returned Hell yeah he followed her out of the room and as they walked down the hallway they heard laughing and found T-Dog, Jacqui and Glenn in a room passing around a bottle. Daryl hit her shoulder and said he'd go grab the bottle and she walked in the room with Jacqui holding the bottle out for her. She took a chug then handed it over to Glenn who was already looking a little flushed, "How drunk are you Glenn?"

"Oh I'm feelin gooood." He said with a smile at her, "So Lieutenant Colonel, how are you feeling?"

She laughed at him as Daryl handed her their bottle after returning to the room and she raised it towards the man, "Hoping to be as goooood as you are soon."

"Lieutenant Colonel. How high up is that?" T-Dog asked after passing the bottle.

"Well there are only six more ranks after it in the whole Army and no one gets the rank of General of the Army, which would have been my goal but it would mean we would still have to be at war for it to happen, so technically five." She smiled knowing her goal of being a female General of the Army would have been almost impossible.

"Out of how many?" Jacqui asked with a smile.

"Out of officers sixteen, out of all the ranks twenty-nine." Angel passed the rum back to Daryl.

"You can't be that old, aren't they normally like in their late thirties?" T-Dog leaned forward as if studying her face.

"Yeah. But I guess a purple heart and a medal of honor kind of put you on the map." She gave a laugh, "One of the youngest LC's in the history of the Army."

"Medal of Honor?!" Glenn slurred with a laugh, "You were a damn hero!"

"No. I was far from it." She took a glug of the rum, then wiped her mouth, "Just did my job."

"That's what makes you a hero." Jacqui looked at her with a small smile, "You still have that about you, saving as many lives as you could, leading walkers away from your group, saving Sophia when the camp got attacked."

"It's not like I do it on purpose. It was my job it just happens naturally." Angel shrugged her shoulders.

"Whatever you say." Daryl nudged her shoulder and she smiled shyly at them all, she had always hated the attention she had gotten for the things she had done. Hell she wished some of them had never happened because of how awful they were. They all laughed at her and continued drinking.

When they figured Glenn had had enough they finally sent him to bed and Daryl and Angel returned to her room for a round two.

* * *

As everyone was asking Jenner what the power down meant Angel was racking her brain trying to remember, she knew that it had been said before but it had only been in passing. They didn't talk much about what would happen because they thought they would figure it out before the city lost power. As Rick told everyone to get their things he looked at her, "Angel, you know the lay out right?" She nodded her head, "You lead the group to the surface then."

When the door shut in front of her she knew that Jenner had lost it. She watched, trying to remember what she had heard, as Daryl tried to hit the doctor and as Rick and Shane tried to get him to tell what happens when the clock hits zero. As Jenner yelled her heart dropped, she remembered. Her footsteps were slow as she approached the man. She heard Rick ask, "H.I.T's?"

Jenners eyes focused on her, "Lieutenant Colonel, do you remember what they are? Perhaps you could explain."

All eyes were on her and she knew that her skin was pale, she hadn't thought the bunker had H.I.T's… she knew there would be a decontamination but she thought it wouldn't be that severe, her voice was loud, but shaky, "High Impulse Thermobaric explosives. It releases a chemical into the air that when ignited lights the surrounding air on fire to create the largest damage possible. What is a weapon like that doing in the middle of a city?!"

She heard the kids crying and soon the bangs of axes on the door, she was trying to think of a way to convice him to let them go and the sound of the metal on metal was annoying, she turned to Daryl and Shane and yelled loud enough for it to echo through the room, "Save your energy! Those doors are military grade not even a fucking rocket launcher could get through them!"

She shoved Daryl away from Jenner when he ran after him with an axe and gave him a warning look, then as Jenner turned Ricks words against him she knew how Rick had felt, but she wasn't letting Jenner get away with it, "Everybody dies Jenner, even in the old world they did and we have the same possibility of losing them now as we did back then."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Shane walk away and listened to Carol and she was right that Sophia didn't deserve this, no one did. When Shane reappeared with his gun in Jenners face Rick tried to talk him down but her job took over her body as she pulled her pistol out and placed it on Shanes temple, "You heard last night, I don't miss and I will do what it takes to save as many as I can, despite what happens to me."

He yelled out in frustration and shot out the computers on the wall and she immediately put her pistol back, getting a look from Rick but they both know that she would only have done it if she had too, and she would have hated herself for doing it. She looked at Jenner and he saw it in her eyes again, that fight, "Jenner, please, I know what you lost, I remember it. We've lost too, but we also have people to find, people to help. Give us a chance to fight another day. You are trying to play god with our lives by keeping that door shut, but you also said that this might just be his wrath, if it is then open the door and we won't make it out in time, but don't try to make the decision for him."

Rick followed up her plea with his questions and Jenner let to light what it is that he had lost, the person that Angel remembered. His wife who had died and the promise he had made to her. Rick now pleaded and it was followed by Loris, Jenner looked at Angel, "I didn't know that your commander had left you to deal with it all out there, any normal person would have joined him, but you gave the people you cared about a chance, so as my apology I'll give you one."

He opened the door and she ran for it, Rick called out after her making sure she remembered her order to lead everyone out. She yelled for people to grab what they could a quick as possible and when they were back she passed the elevator that had the gun that Jenner had aimed at them when they had first gotten there leaning against it. It was an AR-15, the gun she had always used, it wasn't hers but it made her a little more at home when she grabbed it and ran up the stairs. When they reached the final flight she let the others pass her to make sure that no one was getting left, old habits die hard after all.

When she reached the top and saw Shane about to try to shoot through the glass she went to yell that it was bullet proof but he had already found that out. When Carol pulled out a grenade and handed it to Rick he looked at Angel, "I'm willing to bet you have more experience with these than me."

She nodded and took the explosive from him, "Get back, get back everyone!"

Daryl watched as she put it in the nook by the stairs and saw the gesture of her pulling out the pin, she didn't even look scared as she set it down and yelled for them to put their heads down while running towards them, it was clear that she had done something like that before.

She counted in her head and right before the grenade went off she dropped to her knees and covered her head feeling the heat on her back. This maneuver gave her a quick recovery to grab her things and hop out the broken window to help everyone else out. Daryl couldn't help but smile as she took out the walkers in their way with perfect precision with her new gun, his Angel was more than back, she was even better.

When she heard the RV's horn go off at Dale and Andrea she knew time was up and grabbed Daryls shoulder pulling him down with her below the glass of the truck. He wrapped his arms over her body and protected her head in case the blast was close enough. When the final shock wave had passed he lifted himself and she looked up into his eyes and had a smile as he let out a breath of air. She let out a laugh, "Survived this place twice now, maybe I should start keeping a tally."

"As long as that tally never stops." He smiled and as the cars pulled off he wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her to sit next to him. She couldn't help but laugh at him as she laid her head on his shoulder.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Alrighty this one is more broken up because of it being the search, but it wont last to long since the second season is like less than a week long haha! Also NanamiYatsumaki The AR-15 has a civilian version which is what your thinking of the military versions are capable of 3 burst shots and being automatic :) Keep me updated on what y'all think!**

They all sat around a make shift table the next night in an abandoned building eating what little they could find in it. Angel took a small portion giving Sophia and Carl the rest of what she should have had, she'd spent her whole time overseas eating the bare minimum so she knew she would be okay. Rick had asked her where safe places might be to go since she knew the more recent status of the military operations, "What about Fort Benning?"

"That's where I was stationed when I got back on duty, they sent almost everyone to Atlanta to protect the CDC. If there is any military left there then they'll be hunkered down, but I know they don't have any damn H.I.T.'s in case the run out of power." She said cleaning her plate.

"Well then I guess we should head there." Rick said mostly to himself but the others heard and agreed.

"The entrance is automated to get in when there aren't guards on duty, which I doubt there will be. But if the place still has power I still have my card to open the gates, it's as good of a try as anywhere else would be." She shrugged her shoulders and felt Shanes eyes boring into her. They had been ever since they left the CDC and she couldn't take it anymore, she turned to look at him, "Is there a problem?"

"You guys were shooting innocent people in the hallways of the hospital. The military running around with gas masks checking every room shooting anything that moved." Shane spit his words at her.

"Clearly I wasn't there, those orders must have come from the highest ranking officer in the group, a lot of us lost contact with command. We didn't have orders, didn't know what to do, they must have panicked and decided that the risk was too high, not that I condone what they did, but people do things when they're scared. When we lost contact we held our positions and kept protecting the CDC until they locked us out." She looked down at her empty plate, they were shooting innocent people, the way he had said it reminded her of when they had first gotten shipped over to Afghanistan, orders were to shoot anything hostile and not take any chances. Angel had only been eighteen when the war started but she had already had a year of training, but nothing could have prepared her for all the dead bodies, it was sad but she had gotten used to it after a while, which is why the walkers don't bother her much.

"Hey Angel," Glenn said looking at her with a sheepish look, "Do you have it with you? The Medal of Honor?"

"Yeah, and the purple heart." She said reaching into her bag, "I had just returned from Washington when my orders for Atlanta came through so I never remembered to take them out."

She pulled out the two boxes that held her medals and Daryl saw her eyes linger on them for a moment before handing them to the young Asian. Glenn took them from her and gingerly opened the boxes containing the two, he looked over at her, "Since you just got them does that mean that what happened was recent?"

"Yeah I had just recovered from the injuries when I went for the awards ceremony." Daryl watched as she spoke and saw her hand run over the back of her neck again.

"What are they for?" Sophia asked.

"The Purple Heart is for being wounded in action and the Medal of Honor is for an act of valor above and beyond the call of duty even at the risk of the recipients life." She said answering the girl with a small smile.

"What happened?" Carl asked excitedly, "Were you shot?"

Lori hushed him but Angel just laughed, "Yes I was, I got shot in the leg. It was lucky too because it should have been a kill shot but I move just a tiny bit faster than they thought I did."

"Above and beyond the call of duty." She heard it in Glenns voice and knew the question was coming, "What…what did you do?"

"I-uh- don't really like to talk about it." She smiled.

"Did someone die?" Sophia asked in a quiet voice, Angel knew the girl was twelve and that she probably knew a little bit about the war.

"A few enemies, but none of my squad. It was just a really bad time for us." She gave the girl a small smile and felt a hand ghost over hers and saw that it had been Daryls.

"Why do you still wear your dog tags? Is it just because?" Andrea asked.

"No, it's so that if I get bit and turned into a walker and one of my squad runs into my corpse they know it's me. So we don't ever wonder. If we have the tags we know that they're gone, if we don't then we stick with they are alive."

The next morning they had a pit stop for gas and made their way from the city. Daryl decided to leave it truck behind knowing the gas on the motorcycle would be better and they put their bags in the back of the car that Rick would be driving, Daryl gave her a smile as she walked over to him on the bike, "You ever been on one of these? Know how to ride?"

"Do you know who you're talking to?" She gave him a wide smile and he almost tensed as her hand went to his waist and she climbed on behind him. She only held onto him when they were on an incline so she didn't know his bow off the bike, but he couldn't help but wish that she kept her arms secured on him. He could tell after about an hour that she had defiantly ridden on a motorcycle before since her hands rested on the tops of her thighs instead of gripping him or the metal. Every now and then he could feel her press her forehead on his back as she tried to keep the wind out of her face.

Daryl knew that he was treading dangerous waters with her, that he shouldn't be getting attached to her, but he couldn't help himself from enjoying the feeling of her pressed up against him or wanting to protect her despite the fact she didn't need it. Every time Angel was close to him she felt the air leave her lungs and that damn tightness in her chest, it was a feeling she hadn't had in years and she tried to force it away any time it sprung up. That feeling had caused her the worse pain in her life and she refused to go through it again.

She heard a horrible noise as coming from behind them as her and Daryl led them through the cemetery of cars. When Dale said it was the radiator hose Glenn quickly started to help him as Daryl went with T-Dog to get more fuel. Sophia grabbed her hand and so she went with Carol, Lori and Carl to look for things to eat and other supplies in the scrawled out cars. While the women looked for clothes and Angel stayed close to the kids as they wandered a bit further she heard Lori say, "Carl, always within my sights and stay close to Angel."

When Carol agreed she couldn't help but smile at now knowing for sure that Angel would make sure that the kids were taken care of despite what would happen to their parents, she was someone who had been fighting for and protecting people for her whole adult life.

She heard the shuffling of fast feet and turned to see Rick crouched and running for them whispering for them to get down, Angel took the kids by their hands and helped them to both get under a car. As she crawled under one she her hand went to her hip and she realized that her machete was hooked onto Daryls bike still, there hadn't been any sign of walkers so she hadn't thought to grab it since the pistol she carried was always on her hip. She kept her eyes locked on the kids who were under the cars behind her and could see from Sophias head darting back and forth that she was scared and her first instinct would be to run, Angel readied herself just in case.

The walkers began to thin out and as what seemed to be a final one was passing by her car she looked up and saw Sophia moving to get out from under the car, Angel knew if she whispered at all that walker would hear her so she tried to move enough to get the girls attention. Her heart stopped as she heard a walker his and Sophias panicked squeals. Angel began to crawl from under her car to where the girl was but Sophia didn't see her and slid under the guard rail of the high way and took off into the forest. Angel realized as she jumped over the rail followed by Rick that she didn't even have her guards on and cursed in her mind, she let Rick take point because of her stupidity but kept her eyes on Sophia as the girl ran faster than Angel though tiny legs like hers could go.

They were finally able to get ahead of her and cut her off and when she reached for Ricks gun he said it would be too dangerous and Angel knew he was right. When she heard rustling behind them she knew the walkers were catching up, she signaled it to Rick and he picked Sophia up and the began to run the other direction. When they found a creek Rick told Sophia to hide in a hole in the bank and that he and Angel would draw them away, Sophia's scared cries saying she didn't want to be left alone pulled on Angels heart-strings and she looked at Rick, "I'll stay with her, you can handle two walkers. Just find a big rock."

He nodded and she pushed Sophia back in the hole as Rick yelled to them how to get back to the highway, just in case Angel didn't know. She held the girl steady and quiet for what she figured was about ten minutes and slowly exited first, checking to make sure it was safe. When she thought it was she called to Sophia and held her hand as they walked back to the highway. She stopped when she heard a twig snap and a growl. She held her hand out stopping Sophia as she scanned the tree line around them. When she heard a growl her heart stopped and Angel felt the little girls hand tighten around hers. Angel swallowed hard as her eyes landed on what had made the sound and she felt herself go pale when she realized that she was in a staring contest with a bear. She quickly removed her eyes trying to remember anything he had heard about this situation, she was pretty sure that staring down insurgents worked but not a bear. Her voice was low, "Sophia back away with me slowly and don't look it in the eye."

"Okay." The girl's voice was shaky. They were backing up slowly and the bear took a step closer but Angel pushed Sophia behind a tree and out of sight, then slipped in behind her.

She drew in a steadying breath and slowly leaned out and didn't see the bear any more but she knew that they couldn't go back the way they had originally planned, she would at least have to go a half mile south before heading back up the highway once they hit it.

* * *

Rick came back to camp and still saw a distressed Carol, "They aren't back yet?" Carol shook her head with a sob and Rick rubbed his eyes, "I left her with Angel and told them how to get back."

Daryl over heard the conversation and then his eyes locked on something on his bike, the machete he had given to her was still tied on it, "Aw shit."

Rick and Glenn walked over to him as he tried to get into the back of Ricks car and when he did they watched him dig around in her bag for a minute. Daryls heart wanted to break out of his chest when he felt them, "Ang's body guards are in here and her machete's still on my bike, probably the only thing she has on her is her gun and that won't help much with that pack that just walked by."

As the four of them were stepping over the railing Daryl looked at Carol seeing how distressed she was and he felt it a bit too only it wasn't the same because hers was her daughter and his was his Angel, "Hey, Angel will do anything to keep your lil girl safe. She'll protect her until we find 'em."

He followed their tracks, Sophias were easier to see and Daryl wondered what in the hell could have spooked Angel enough to make her veer off as far as she did. After a little while longer Rick couldn't see tracks anymore and wondered where they could have gone, "Naw, tracks aint gone, they're faint. Ang always was light-footed when we were huntin', military makes sense now, but because of it she leaves a certain type of print, if you don't know how to look for it then you won't find it."

* * *

Angel looked up, the sky was orange and she knew night would be coming soon. She was sweating bullets and hadn't eaten since that morning. She had no way of sanitizing any water for them but she had been giving Sophia leaves to chew on so she could get some water out of that, and Angel hated the taste so she tried it as much as she could too. With night falling it wouldn't be safe for them to camp out anywhere but they hadn't seen any kind of shelter at all. Angel knew she had to make a call and she knew that there was only one she could make despite what it did to her, "You getting tired girlie?"

"Yeah," Sophia rubbed her eyes, "Where are we going to sleep?"

"You are going to sleep on me." Angel said and bent down to signal that she should climb on her back.

"But what about you? Arent you tired?" Sophia said in her ear.

"Oh I'll be fine. Plus if we can't stop without a place to stay and if I keep us moving then we can make it back to your mom faster." She smiled at the girl, not sure if she could see it or not.

"Angel?" Sophias voice was quiet and Angel replied with a hum, "I hear you singing to yourself sometimes, could you sing to me?"

Angels eyes saddened, she hadn't sang with someone around since she was with her brother, he would play the guitar every night and she would sing with the help of their squad, before lights out. The little girl waited for an answer and Angel knew she wouldn't be able to say no to the girl, "Alright give me a second to remember one."

The first one that popped into her head was Wonderwall by Oasis, so she started singing and as she got through the song she felt Sophias body go slack against her and she held on tight to the little girl not wanting her to fall.

* * *

Daryl and Rick returned to camp and found an almost hyperventilating Carol when Sophia and Angel weren't with them. They explained what happened and why they had blood on themselves and Carol sat down getting comforted by Lori. Daryl walked up to her again, "Look I told you Angels out there with her so she aint alone. We'll get 'em back."

Carol couldn't help but hear the shakiness in Daryls voice and knew that he was worried about Angel being out there with no one but a twelve-year-old to help her. She was glad though, because she knew out of all the people in camp Sophia had taken to Angel the most and Carol wouldn't ask for her to be lost with anyone else, except maybe herself. Carol looked at Daryl with tears in her eyes, "Let's hope Angel continues to live up to her name and she guards my baby."

Daryl thought back to how when they had just started to get to know each other he said that he thought her name was a funny match for her but he didn't so much anymore, be he hoped she didn't live up to it enough to become one.

* * *

The next day Sophia and Angel were still walking, she had lost her bearings in the night and didn't know which way she should go. She had been honest with the girl and Sophia just looked at her and told her that it would be okay because she was with her and nothing would happen while they were together. Angel couldn't help but smile at this.

"Do you like Daryl?" Sophia asked as they walked hand in hand.

"Of course I like him, I wouldn't hang out with him if I didn't." Angel smiled at the girl.

"No I mean _like_ like him." She asked said with a smile.

"What makes you ask?" Angel said not sure how to answer the question.

Sophia looked up at her, "Well you two are always together and the night at the CDC he slept in your room."

Angel could feel a blush warming her face, damn this girl was a little to observant, "Daryl and me are just friends, he was comforting me that night after what me and the Doctor talked about."

"Like how Carl comforted me after my dad died?" Angel tried not to smile at the question and tried to figure out how to answer.

"Kind of." Was all she could manage. She saw a break in the tree line and held tight to Sophias hand as she looked further to see if there were any walkers around. When they broke through they saw a church and a graveyard. Sophia got excited.

"Can we go inside? Get out of the heat even if just for a little while?" She pulled on Angels hand.

"We'll see, I don't have any way of getting rid of walkers so if there are some inside then we can't go in. But if not then hell yeah!" She smiled and laughed with the girl.

She walked up to a window and wiped it as clean as she could before peering in to see three corpses. Angel wasn't sure if they were dead or walkers so she banged on the window and when one of the heads moved she saw that it was a corpse, "There are three walkers inside, but perhaps we could sit and stay in the shade for a while instead."

Sophia nodded and smiled as they sat down on the side of the building. She watched as Angel grabbed a stick and a sharp rock, "What are you doing?"

"I'm working on making a silent weapon just in case we do run into trouble." She looked at the stick, "It's not very thick so it won't last long but it'll be better to have something and not need it than need it and not have it."

Angel now watched as Sophia copied her movements and started doing the same thing, "This way either I can help or when that one breaks we have another."

"Smart thinking there girlie." Angel smiled at her. They had both all but gotten them sharpened when the bell for the church started going off.

"Angel! The noise!" Sophia worried about walkers.

"I know." She grabbed her hand and began running off to the woods as far away from the noise as they could get. After at least a half hour of running or fast paced walking they finally found a creek. Angel lifted some of the water in her hand and looked to see if she could see anything in it. She was thirsty, and she knew Sophia was too, but she didn't know what could be in the water. She held Sophia, "Look, I'm gunna have some but I don't know if there is anything bad in it. If you don't want to drink any then you don't have to, okay?"

Sophia nodded but bent down to pick some water up in her hands. She waited until Angel had drunk some then took a small sip, it tasted different from bottled water but what could she expect from a creek. They sipped the water from their hands and after what would have been a pint Angel stopped her, "Can't drink too much now, don't want it to give you a cramp."

Sophia nodded and when a shot rang through the woods their heads both shot in the direction it echoed from. Sophia looked at her with an unsure but excited look, "Is it one of the group."

"No, that wasn't one of the guns we have. We should keep moving, but lets stay by the creek just in case." She knew they had been travelling on 85 and when she came up from Benning she remembered there being a few small bridges for creeks, so she was hoping this would run into the highway. They walked until night fall when Angel picked Sophia up again and carried her while she slept, singing a song to help her relax.

Not long after she heard a twig snap and when she saw the two walkers she shook Sophia then dropped her, and as she did she felt a snap around her neck and heard her dog tags fall to the ground. She took one of the sticks they had and rammed it through the eye socket and when Sophia called her name she turned and the girl was throwing her the other and she did the same with the second walker. Sophia was shaking and Angel came and grabbed her picking her up as she cradled her as she kept walking.

Daryl laid in the RV listening to Carol cry. Normally the noise would have been annoying but he couldn't bring himself to shed a tear for Angel and Sophia so he was glad that someone was. He knew that if he cried then I meant he had given up on them and he refused to give up on Angel after everything she had managed to survive, but he didn't want to give up also because he didn't want to lose her, she had become his one ray of sun in the dark world they had found themselves in and he wasn't willing to let that go, not now, not ever.

He knew that he would be twenty times more comfortable on the hard floor of the RV if her body was next to his. Daryl decided he couldn't just sit here and do nothing, not while he could be out there looking for her this way he could just see her face again, he looked at the ceiling, was that really too much to ask? To get to see the only person he had ever had a connection with again?

Andrea said she would go with them and they started walking down the highway on the edge of the forest, "She means a lot to you doesn't she? Angel."

"Don't much matter do it? All I want to do is find 'em." Daryl said not wanting to talk about Angel as he stepped over the guard rail to go into the forest. They talked and he told her the story about being lost in the forest for nine days in the woods and she slightly laughed at him when he said his ass itched something fierce.

"You know she always said you weren't that bad when you got used to the rough edges you had." Andrea looked down at her feet as she walked.

"Who? Angel?" He asked and she nodded with a smile, "Hell if I've got rough edges that bitch has knives. You gotta hope that when you talk to her you're getting the blunt end side because she'll slice your ass up."

She laughed at him and they walked on, when they found the walker hanging in the tree and he shot it after getting her make shift answer, she thought of something and looked at him, "Did Angel ever think about not wanting to live? After everything that she went through after the world went to shit?"

"Never said specifically. She said she knew she should have died there, but she also said she had a tally of things she's survived." He looked at her, "She's a survivor, it's what she does."

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" Andrea looked at him with a sad smile.

"I aint gotta convince myself of nothin'." He said and as he shined his light he saw two walker corpses, "Like this is a good sign."

"Are you sure?" She said and he looked to where her finger was pointing at the two metal pieces on the ground.

He swallowed hard, "Depends on what they say."

Andrea reached down and picked them up and he watched her face as she read them. She held them out to him, "Addison, Angel."

"She's alive." He said and he felt his lip quiver, "I know she is. Walker probably took 'em by surprise."

"Daryl, you heard what she said the other day, she would keep wearing them until she was a walker herself, she wouldn't just leave them here." She tried to make her tone soft but it didn't work to well.

He snatched the metal from her hand, "She has Sophia to worry about. Probably didn't have time to get them. She's alive! I know she is!"

He walked off as he shoved the tags in his pocket, Andrea started to follow him when he stopped. She saw his shoulders slump and jumped as he yelled out Angels name and it echoed through the trees.

When they got back to the RV Daryl went straight for Carol, "They're alive, I know they are!"

"Daryl." Andrea started but he hushed her and held the tags up to Carol.

"They were by two downed walkers, I know they're alive."

* * *

Angel shook her head, she knew the lack of sleep was getting to her when her name echoed through the forest. It almost sounded like Daryl but he knew better than to go out and look at night, it was almost impossible and twice as dangerous. She bumped Sophia up so she had a better grip on her and carried on in the woods.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So yeah, I have always hated how Sophia died in the show but in the books she didnt, its always pissed me off so this is me sticking it to the man so to speak haha. Also I've always felt that Sophia would be very observant and such since she was abused and quiet, I just feel that noticing things would be like a hobby, kind of like people watching. Let me know what yall think of this one and if there is anything you want to see in the future!**

When they broke through the tree line and saw an old white farm house Sophia who had, had problems sleeping since the walkers earlier that night, got excited, "Can we go in?"

"Yeah, It's be nice to find something better than berries and leaves to eat." Angel smiled at her.

"And maybe a bed to sleep in!" Sophia laughed, "No offense."

"Oh none taken, I'm sure I'm not that comfortable when I'm walking." Angel said but held her back when they walked in the door. She held the stick in her hand and kept Sophia behind her as they searched the house for walkers. A sigh of relief escaped her as they finished the downstairs and when she opened the door to the upstairs bedroom she could already smell the death in the room, "Sophia stay here."

The girl nodded and when Angel walked in she saw two corpses on the bed both with gunshot wounds to the head. She closed the door fast and looked at Sophia, "Well seems like we're alone, let's see if there's any food."

They searched the cupboard and found a pack of sardines, a can of chili, a can of green beans, and in the fridge were four bottles of water, "Looks like we're feasting tonight little one!"

Sophia laughed and found them plates as Angel started opening the cans. Angel was happy when she discovered it was an old house and she took her lighter and lit the burners so they could heat up their food in the pans that were there. When they sat down to eat Angel dished out the food and Sophia looked at the two plates, "Angel, why do I have more than you?"

"Because you have to keep your strength up, I've gotten used to not eating a lot anyhow. I have to make sure you can keep up so we can find your mom." Angel smiled at her eating some green beans.

"Do you really think we'll find my mom and Daryl again?" Sophia asked. Angel gave a small smile that the girl added Daryl in, she missed him more than she thought she would, more than she missed her friends.

"Of course we will. I believe that I'll find my brother one day and he's probably a hundred miles away and your mom is only a few miles away and I'm sure they're looking for us so we're bound to find them soon." Angel's smile grew bigger.

"I know they're looking for us, Daryl would never leave you." Sophia said moving her sardines around.

"Why do you say that?" Angel wondered honestly, Daryl had no reason to look for her, he barely looked for Merle but he didn't have much to go on then…

Sophia looked up at her, "Because he's your friend, he worries about you and I think he likes you."

Angel laughed at Sophia and told her to finish her food so they could see what else they could find in the house. Sophia nodded and scarfed down the rest of her food before they set off through each of the rooms looking for anything they could use.

When Angel went back to the kitchen she found a butcher's knife and slid it down in her belt, she wouldn't have to use a stick anymore. As they walked through the house Sophia held her hand and watched as Angel went through the bathroom. She looked up at her, "Angel when I grow up I want to be like you."

"No you don't, you wanna be like you." Angel smiled down at her.

"But you're kind and pretty and have loads of courage. I want to be like that, so I want to be like you." Sophia looked at her and Angel kneeled down to be level with her face.

"Sophia you are all of those things already."

"No I'm not, I got scared and ran when those walkers were there." Sophia looked at her feet, "Angel what do I need to do to be brave like you?"

"Bravery is being able to still do something even when you're scared out of your mind." Angel said standing up, "I was scared to death when I first went off to war, but when I put on my war paint it helped me remember that I had been trained and I was capable of surviving." Angel found some eyeshadow and chapstick, "You want some?"

Sophia quickly nodded and Angel mixed the powder and created a dark-colored paint out of the makeup. She kneeled down again and dipped her finger in and with the paint she made a line across the bridge of Sophias nose. Angel watched as Sophia turned to look in the mirror and gave a wide smile as she watched Angel put two striped on each cheek, "Now we match!"

"Heck yes! Now there's something else that you need in order to be brave and protect yourself." Angel said walking back down stairs, Sophia followed her into the kitchen and when Angel turned around she handed her a knife that had been in the holder, "It's a boning knife so it goes through bone, and remember if a walker comes for you, you have to get it in the skull."

Sophia nodded her head and carefully took the knife, hooking it in a belt loop. Angel decided that the bed wasn't an option to sleep in and Sophia said that she would feel safe in the cupboard so Angel crawled in the small space and Sophia followed her lying on her lap. She sang the little girl to sleep then set it in her mind that she would wake up when the sun came up so she could see if there was anything left for them to eat for breakfast, then fell fast asleep.

Angel woke up at the sound of shuffling outside, she could see a string of sunlight barley pouring into the cupboard. She woke Sophia up with a finger to her mouth and the girl listened to the noise she had heard, and there were two sets of noises. Angel pulled out her knife and Sophia did the same, they managed to maneuver themselves in the closet so that when they opened the door they would be ready to pounce.

As soon as the door was open they saw two walkers that had come in through the front door, hell knows where they came from, Angel looked at Sophia, "We need to get outside, it'll be easier to kill them there."

Sophia nodded and Angel nudged her to run to the door and then followed behind the walkers noticing them. When they were outside and had a decent space she looked at Sophia, "I can handle them if you want."

"No, I have to start somewhere." The little girl said and Angel nodded at her.

"Be careful." Angel took off running and put her arm out grabbing one walker by the throat keeping it away from her and stabbed it in the head. She looked over to see Sophia squat down and knock it off of its feet and then hold it down and put the blade in its head. Angel felt proud of the girl that she was learning to survive in this new world, but the sight made her feel a little sick, to see someone so young have to do something so horrible.

"I did it." Sophia said a little stunned after pulling her knife out of the skull.

"Yeah, you did." Angel tried to make her voice happy, "Now let's go see if there's any food left in the house."

"And then find my mom and Daryl!" Sophia said skipping to the house.

* * *

Daryl walked into the RV with the bottle in his hand, he made a joke about how clean it was before setting it down on the counter. After Carol asked what it was for he told the story of the Cherokee Rose and she had tears streaming down her face. As he went to leave she spoke up, "There should be two, on for Sophia and Angel."

"Nah, I got my sign on her." He said pulling the dog tags from his pocket, "Plus she doesn't really strike me as a flower kind of girl."

"She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Carol said looking at him with sad eyes.

"She's all I got left." He said shrugging his shoulders, "Treated me better than anyone I ever knew."

"She's treated a lot of us better than most people." Carols eyes lowered to the ground.

Daryl turned to leave, he knew he was going to find them, he needed to find her. When he walked out of the RV he walked over to a tree and punched it as Glenn and Maggie were walking together and Glenn spoke up, "What's wrong Rambo?"

"I found a place where they stayed and Angels dog tags last night. I'm closing in but I wish she would just stop goddamn moving." Daryl almost yelled through gritted teeth, mostly to himself but still answering Glenns question.

"Look if anyone knows how to survive it's Angel. She's almost like a war hero." Glenn said walking up to him.

"I know and that's what fucking worries me about her." Daryl spoke more calmly but stalked off to his tent.

* * *

Angel had walked all through the night down the creek and felt horrible when Sophia had said she dropped her doll. She had to explain to the girl that she didn't know when it had happened and they couldn't go back to look for it, but she promised she would somehow find a way to get her another one.

As they walked Sophia noticed that Angel was sluggish and her skin was pale. The little girl didn't know much but she knew she should keep Angel talking, "Angel, have you ever been in love?"

"I was once, a few years ago." Angel said helping the girl over a fallen tree.

"What's it like?"

"It's hard to explain. Your heart beats fast when you're around them and your stomach flutters. It's different for every person." Angel tried to explain.

"What was it like for you?" Sophia looked up at her as they walked.

"He…he could always make me smile, no matter what happened. When he was around it always took my breath away. I would have done anything for him, no matter the consequences. He could tell from how I was acting when I just needed him to be there even if he didn't say anything, and he could tell when I needed to talk about something. While no one is perfect I swore he was perfect for me." Angel tried not to frown as she talked about him, it made her heart hurt.

"Why don't you love him anymore?"

"It's not that I don't love him anymore, it's just that he isn't around for me to love." Angel said and Sophia looked at her confused, Angel clarified, "He died sweetie, about four years ago."

"I'm sorry." The girl too now sounded sad, "Maybe…maybe you'll fall in love again."

"Maybe," Angels mind flickered to Daryl for just a second but she quickly dismissed the ridiculous thought, "But I don't know if I will get that lucky, I feel like I use up all my luck in what I'm able to survive."

"I don't think love is something that's lucky, I think its fate." The little girl looked at her, "You met the man you loved for a reason, and perhaps you lost him for a reason. Like my mom and my dad, the only reason they were together is for my mom to grow strong and stand up to him, and have me."

"That's a very wise thing from a girl so young." Angel smiled at her.

"Maybe fate is why Daryl found you in those woods that day. You said he saved your life in a sense," Sophia squeezed her hand, "Maybe it was for a reason."

Angel had never really like the idea of fate, she had always wanted to think the choices she made weren't already planned out but that she made them because of who she was and what she believed. To think that everything that had happened to her was predetermined, wasn't a happy thought. But when the little girl spoke, fate sounded a lot nicer now than it had been before.

"What was his name? The man you loved."

"Evan, Evan Burns." Angel smiled fondly, his face barely able to be recalled to her memory, but she somehow managed to bring it up.

* * *

Daryl laid there talking to Merle and the image of his brother reminded him of what he had done to Angel and he couldn't take a word he said seriously, but he couldn't help but feel they were true, everyone else in his life had used him then threw him away, why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't she?

Why had he hallucinated Merle and not Angel? Why wasn't there encouraging him to get up the cliff? Maybe she had just wanted someone to have sex with and that was really it, maybe they weren't even friends and she was just going to leave him behind when the chance arose. Maybe he had just enjoyed having someone be there with him that he made it all up, that perhaps the idea that a soldier and a back woods redneck weren't ever meant to be in the same world, even if it had gone to shit, let alone be together in it.

After he had returned back to camp and had stitches put in Carol brought him dinner, she told him that he did more for Sophia than her own father ever did. When he replied that Rick or Shane would have done the same she gave him a small smile, "I know, you're every bit as good as them. It's just sad that it took Angel no time to see it and everyone else so long."

* * *

It had been three days since the farm-house and they still hadn't found the group, or shelter, or real food. Sophia could see that Angel wouldn't last much longer in these conditions, she had still been walking through the night and giving Sophia the bigger portions of whatever food the managed to find whether it be a handful of berries or a squirrel or fish that Angel managed to randomly get on the end of Sophias knife with a well-aimed throw. She tried to keep her guardian talking and as aware as possible but sometimes she wouldn't be able to think of things to talk about, and when they fell silent she heard Angel muttering about a promise and her punishment.

* * *

There were walkers in the barn and Shane wanted to leave without finding Angel or Sophia, and neither Carol or Daryl was having any part of that. Daryl almost got close enough to punch that sorry son of a bitch before Rick and Glenn pulled him away. Shane looked Daryl straight in the eye and yelled, "Look I know Angel was an army girl and I know she survived a lot, but come on let's be honest! She's got no weapons, no food, and if her sense of direction was any good she clearly would have found the highway by now! You have to face the facts!"

"Don't you dare fuckin say that! She's still alive! She wouldn't just give up like that!" Daryl yelled back at him.

"Maybe she didn't! Maybe she tried her damn best but she ended up in a walkers belly!" Shane's words made Daryls stomach drop.

"She's survived worse than some dead somebitch." Daryl narrowed his eyes on the man.

"How do you know? She tell you what she's been through? She didn't even want to say that she was in the Army, she could have been a damn pencil pusher who just got thrown into the shit at the CDC." Shane glared right back.

"Fuck you. You don't even know her." Daryl said turning around waving the man off and heading back to his tent. After only fifteen or so minutes he couldn't take it anymore and headed for the stables to go out looking again. Carol saw him going and followed him out there.

"Daryl you can't go, you could get hurt even more. You need to rest." Carol pleaded with him, "We don't know if we're gunna find them."

"What?" Daryl said turning from the horse to face Carol.

"They could have gone the other way, or found someone to take them in. Every day the chances of finding them get slimmer." Her voice cracked as she tried to hold back tears for her daughter, "And if you go out there and you die and we do find them Angel would never forgive herself."

He got angry at her words. He was sick and tired of hearing how Angel would feel or what Angel would do. Daryl began to walk away and shoved the saddle off its stand, "Go ahead you fucking give up on them too you stupid bitch!" He turned to look at her, "And stop saying what Angel would do, only she would know that and she aint here!"

Carol watched as he stormed off and saw one hand support his side wound and another one go up to his face in what seemed to be a wiping motion. Daryl wouldn't let the tear escape his eye, because if he did then he would have to admit that his hope was wearing thin too. She felt bad for him, maybe more so than she did herself, he had always been on his own except for Merle until Angel had showed up and too lose them both in such a short amount of time, at least she had wanted Ed gone.

* * *

Sophia had convinced Angel to sit down and take a break when three gunshots went off, followed by three more, then a single one. The girl looked worried, "Is it close?"

"Somewhat. It was all from one gun though." Angel knew her speech was breathy, her forehead was pouring sweat.

Next were more shots Sophia anxiously looked at Angel, "Those are our gun, my AR-15. That way."

Sophia grabbed her hand and pulled her, not willing to leave her behind. Angel kept up as best as possible, trying not to trip but the faster movements were making her vision blurry. She hoped it was closer than the echos had made it seem because she knew she wasn't going to last long.

Sophia turned around and smiled at her when she saw a break in the trees with a barn behind it and Angel did her best to return it. When Angel stumbled she looked at Sophia, "Run, go on, I'll be right behind you."

* * *

The last walker had gone down and they were all standing by the barn. Shane turned around to look at them but everyone's head turned at the sound of someone calling out to them. Daryl looked and almost couldn't believe his eyes. Sophia. She was yelling for her mom and they all took off running, Daryl who had been on the side closest to her got there first, "Are you okay? Where's Angel."

"She needs help, she's been really bad these past few days!" Sophia yelled as her mother scooped her up in her arms but Sophia fought her to point to where Angel was.

Angel saw the group running and smiled when she saw Carol embrace her daughter. Her smile grew as much as it could in her state when she saw Daryl running to her and she tried to make it as far as she could.

He lunged as he saw her body collapsing in on itself and caught her in his arms, "Angel! What happened? What's wrong?" He cupped her face with his hand.

"We found you guys." Her voice was quiet and he could see she was pale and clammy and her body was shaking but she still managed to lift her hand and he felt her fingers ghost across his cheek as she said, "I found you."

"Ang-" Daryl was cut off by her body going limp in his arms and he screamed her name as he shook her trying to get some kind of response.

Glenns body went stiff as he watched and Angel didn't move. He shook his head, she wouldn't have gone through everything just for it to end like this, or had she been like this for a while and just pushed it off to get Sophia back?

Despite the rest of their group still trying to catch up to where Daryl was he picked her up and ran back to the barn, back to where Herschel was and as he passed people they turned around and ran after them, Sophia breaking away from her mother and pulling her with the group to follow him. He fell to his knees in front of the doctor and held Angel close to him, "Please, tell me she's not dead. I'll do anything, just please."

The others could hear the shakiness in his voice as he asked and Maggie and Herschel were the only ones to see the tear fall from his eye as the man hesitated to check her pulse. When Herschel looked from the dead walkers to the girl who was limp in the man's arms he didn't know what to do, half of him wanted them to pay for what they had just done, the other half was a healer. It was only when Maggie spoke that he knew what would win, "Dad, please, there's been enough death today."

He squeezed her hand that was on his shoulder before scooting closer to Daryl who only slightly held Angel out to him, he put his hand on her neck, then to her heart, "It's weak but there is a pulse. Get her inside."

Daryl ran, he knew the man wasn't going to be able to keep up with him but he ran as fast as he could to the house. When he was there he set her in the same bed that he had been put in and waited for the others to get there. Herschel came in followed by Patricia, Carol and Sophia, he turned to the girl, "Darlin' I need to know what happened."

"She's only slept a few hours since the highway and gave me most of the portions of food." Sophia said and Carol hugged her tight. Daryl knew that sounded like something she would do but it didn't make him feel any better.

"We need to get fluids into her, Patricia get me an IV." She did as Herschel said and once he had the IV in her arm he looked at the others in the room who were now piling out into the hallway, "She needs rest, and lots of it. She still won't be at full strength when she wakes up and I'll be surprised if she can keep down solids, but she'll make it."

The knot Daryl didn't realize was in his chest loosened and he gave a sigh of relief. He looked up at Herschel, "Would it be okay if I stayed a little while?"

Carol knew it wasn't like him to be this polite but considering Shane had just released all their walkers and had the group help shoot them, Daryl was in no position to make demands, and she knew that he wouldn't mess up getting Angel help.

Herschel nodded his head and Daryl sat down in the chair next to her bed and put his head in his hands. Sophia looked up at her mom, "We should go, I'm sure they'll let us know when she wakes up."

Carol nodded almost sure that her daughter wanted to give him some privacy and she led her out of the door and shut it behind them. Daryl looked at her and even though he knew she couldn't hear him he talked anyway, "I knew you wouldn't give up. I knew you'd pop up. I knew…"

His voice trailed off as a sob tried to break through his throat and once he had pushed it back down, he noticed how covered in dirt and mud she was, and the stripes on her face. Hell now that he thought about it he was sure Sophia had one too. He looked at her clothes and how dirty they were then he looked at her feet, her boots were muddy and stained. Daryl scooted down, knowing that these had been a part of her military uniform and untied them and pulled them off her feet.

Before taking them outside he walked over to her still pale face and brushed away a stray hair that had fallen over it. He wasn't sure why the urge came over him but he leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead, "I'm glad you're back."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: ANNNGGGGSSHHHHTTT and EMOTION hahaha but only for a little bit because I was had a bad night at work but then thoughts of Mr. Dixon made it better hahaha. Keep letting me know what y'all think! Btw the first part is the dream she's having in case you arent sure :P**

_Her arms felt as fragile as glass as the whip stinging her back made the weight of her body pull down on them. Every time she felt the burn she would press her eye lids together more and bite her lip until it bled to keep from screaming or crying or begging for mercy. When a few moments had passed she felt relieved, thinking that her torture for the day was over until the man walked in with a bottle of Alcohol. She didn't speak much Arabic but she assumed the men weren't laughing when they held the bottle up laughing and told her that it was time for a drink that they were just going to make her watch as they did. They held her head back and shoved the bottle in her mouth and held her nose. It was almost pure and when they pulled the bottle away she coughed and threw up most of what had been ingested. She heard something about what she had done being an insult and the next thing she knew was the liquid was being splashed on her back, meeting the most recent wounds and she couldn't hold back the scream that clawed its way from her mouth. Her whole body tensed and the strain of it on the bullet wound that had been crappily wrapped burned. This repeated a few times and every time the men laughed. She guessed they had thought she had had enough and one of them walked over to her and grabbed her chin, "Now tell us where your soldiers are at."_

_Mustering everything she could to even form a word she stared at him her eyes locked on his brown ones, "Major Angel Addison, United States Army, Battali-" Her words were cut off by another scream as the Alcohol hit her back once again. _

Daryl was walking back to where he had his camp and he saw Carol standing there, "What do you want?"

"They're back now, why are you pulling away like this? Why didn't you go with Lori at least." Carol turned to look at him.

"She's not my damn problem, and neither were they, if you had kept a closer eye on your kid she wouldn't have ran into the forest for Angel to chase. And clearly she doesn't have a damn brain if she almost died out there!" He almost yelled getting in her face.

"You don't mean that." Carol almost whispered before she heard Sophia call her name.

"Mom, I wanna go visit Angel. Can we?" She asked from the trees behind her.

"Yeah sweetie. We can." Carol said turning around.

She was surprised with what came out of her daughters mouth next, "You should come to Daryl. I know it would mean a lot to Angel."

"What in the hell makes you say that?" Daryl asked but her answer was cut off by the three of them hearing screams coming from the house. They took off running and Daryl couldn't help but be surprised when Sophia kept up speed with him. He opened the door to the house and the screams were still coming from the room that Angel was in even though the door was open and when they got to the door frame they could see Patricia and Maggie trying to wake her up and hold her down.

He watched as Angel clawed at her back and neck, the IV was no longer in her arm, her thrashing around must have pulled it out. Sophia pushed past him and put her hands on Angels shoulders, "Angel wake up!"

As if at the girls words Angel exited from a trance and woke up, when her eyes locked on the small figure in front of her Angel wrapped her arms around her and held her body close, running a hand through her hair and letting out a sob. Sophia returned the embrace and spoke softly, "It's okay, we're safe now."

"I know." Angel sniffled and let out a breath, "I know." She looked up at the two women who she had never seen before and assumed that the house they were in was theres, "Sorry if I disrupted you guys."

"Not a problem." The younger one gave a smile.

"Yeah, you just get you're rest now." The older one said placing the IV back in her arm. Angel watched as they left the room and she felt Daryl staring at her with a burning glare.

Sophia looked at her, "Angel, what was making you scream? What were you dreaming about?"

"A time…" Angel paused finally getting a handle on her breath, "A time when I didn't have my war paint on."

Carol took steps forward to be able to pull Sophia back so Angel could get some air and began rubbing the small girls back, "Angel, I can't thank you enough for what you did. I will never be able to repay you."

"Carol it's alright. She kept me alive. She's a smart kid." Angel smiled at Sophia, "Plus I mad-"

"A promise I know." Carol laughed at her, "We're glad you're okay." She turned to Daryl, "Aren't we?"

He just scoffed and Angel gave him an unamused look before turning back to Carol, "Could you give us a moment?"

"Yes!" Sophia said and practically pulled her mother out of the room.

"Shut the door please." She asked Daryl before adjusting herself in the bed, he did as she asked and she spoke again, "You're mad. Let me have it."

"What the hell is wrong with you? You were almost back to the highway when you randomly veered off course!" Daryl said and either didn't see that she opened her mouth to answer him or he did care and continued, "Then for almost a fuckin week you just walk around not sleepin tryin to get yourself killed! You couldn't find the damn high way in five fuckin days? Oh and then there's the fact that you went without your guards on or your machete! How could you be so stupid? You survive all the shit you have just to go out like this? What the fuck were you thinkin'?"

Angel just sat and listened, knowing he needed to get it out. When he finally stopped yelling but was still pacing she let out a breath of air and looked at her hands that were gathering sheets, "There was a bear, that's why we didn't head straight back to the cars."

"Oh that's bullshit! There weren't no damn bear." Daryl spit at her.

"Yes there was. Saw it as plain as I see you now." She said and Daryl scoffed saying it wasn't real, "Oh really? So a bear which has been scientifically proven to exist wasn't real but a damn chupacabra was? Tell me how that makes sense."

He waved her off but when he heard her let out a small breath he stole a glance at her and saw the her shoulders were slack and she was playing with the blankets to keep her hands busy. Her voice was quiet, "It was real, so I decided to go south some more and run into a more southern portion of the highway and we would just walk back up it to you guys but it was hard to see through the canopy of trees and when night fell I couldn't see the moon at all and I lost direction. Never thought I'd miss the desert so much."

"Speaking of." He said reaching into his pocket, his own voice softer now, "Found these."

She smiled and Daryl saw her lip quiver as she saw the dog tags in his hand. She whispered a thank you and slowly took them from him now holding them in her hand. Angel didn't look up at him as she spoke, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry it took so long for me to find my way back. I'm sorry that you guys had to worry about us and we're put through whatever it was that we caused you to feel."

He felt his anger leaving and realized that he couldn't stay mad at her. He sat down next to her and placed his hand over hers, "Hey, what matters is that your back. Just don't ever make me have to look for you again."

"You looked for me?" She said looking up at him.

"Every damn day I was out there combing the woods looking for you." He ran his thumb over the back of her hand.

She reached up and he felt her hand brush over the bandage on his temple, "Is that how you did this?"

"No, Andrea shot me." He said with a slight smile.

"What a stupid, lucky bitch." Angel returned his smile but it was wider, god he had missed it.

"Yeah well if I told you the other injury I got you would never stop pickin' on me." He gave her a fake hard time.

"Oh come on how bad can it be? It's not like you shot yourself with an arrow or anything." She rolled her eyes at him but when he pursed his lips and gave her a funny look she busted out laughing, "Oh my god! Daryl Dixon! You did not! Was it your foot or something?"

She bent over the side of the bed to try to look at his feet to see if his boots had a hole in them and the quick movement made her dizzy. He saw her body sway and he grabbed onto her shoulders and supported her head as he laid her back down on the pillow. His hand stayed on her cheek and he looked into her eyes. She stared back up at him, not sure what the look on his face was, did he have a knot like she did when they looked at each other like this? Daryl almost leaned down and gave her a kiss but something in her eyes made him know better, it almost looked like fear so he didn't do it. He leaned away from her and felt her body relax, "You should get some more rest. I took your boots and cleaned 'em for ya, I know how the military likes pristine uniforms."

"Thank you." Angel whispered and he left the room.

The next morning Angel couldn't take laying in the bed one more minute, she felt like she was going to get sores from it. Having had experience of ripping out IVs in fits or confusion and rage after her many stays in hospitals having to pull one out when she was normal wasn't a problem at all. As she walked out side with her thumb over the hole in her arm she saw T-Dog, Shane and Daryl all loading the car up with guns. Daryl looked up and saw her approaching them, "Whoa, whoa, woah! You shouldn't be up!"

"Please? Do I seem like a stationary person? I always drove the doctors nuts." She smiled at him then looked at the small army they seemed to be equipping, "Who pissed us off?"

"Glenn, Rick, and Herschel left yesterday and they aint back yet. We're going to go look for 'em." Daryl said prepping his shot-gun, "And no, you aint going."

"What? I have more experience with that thing than you do!" She gawked at him.

"Don matter. You need rest and I will tie you down to the bed if I have to." He said to her then she broke out in laughter and he realized what he had said.

"Nice of you to offer but I like to be involved in the act." Angel still managed to say through her fit.

"Shut up woman." Daryl said as he noticed T-Dog and Andrea giving him small smiles too. He was relieved of the embarrassment as Andrea pointed out a car coming up the drive. They all ran to the car and listened as Herschel asked for the stable to be prepped and T-Dog asked who was in the back seat.

Angels eyes followed his finger and she saw a man with a blindfold on, she never liked those when she was trying to hit a piñata, after war it was even less fun. She ran up to the car and looked in and saw the blood oozing around a makeshift bandage around his leg. When Herschel pulled him out of the car Angel looked, "Good news is that it missed the bone, bad news is it might have completely torn the tendons."

"You a doctor?" The old man asked her.

"No but I learned my fair share of patching up wounds in the middle east." She said looking at him assuming this was the man who had given her the IV.

"How steady are your hands?" He asked and she held them up and he saw no shakes or tremors through her body, "Patricia get us a lot of orange juice for the girl, she shouldn't be up yet let alone helping me with surgery so we have to get you as many vitamins as we can."

"Angel!" Daryl called after her but she just waved him off and he could see that this was something she was used to doing.

She held back skin for the doctor as Patricia held the boy down until he eventually passed out from the pain and blood loss. It was a rather quick surgery, but then again he didn't seem to have many supplies. When they walked back in the house and washed their hands she could hear the conversation going on about what to do with Randall. When Shane went off about how it wasn't safe and all that Hershel yelled at him and said that while he said that the group could stay, he didn't have to like Shane. Shane just stood there and looked at the man for a moment before walking out the door. When Angel heard the screen shut she spoke to Herschel before taking a sip of her orange juice, "I like you a lot."

When the group went outside Angel started looking for her bag, Dale came up to her, "It's in the RV, figured it be safest there."

"Thanks." She said following him. She reached in and grabbed a pack of cigarettes, god it had been days since she had one. Then she remembered something else, it had been days since she had taken her birth control. Either she wouldn't be having sex for a month or it would be with a condom. She turned to Dale remembering something, "Did you take my AR-15 out of my bag?"

"No, why would I do that?" He asked.

"I was just wondering because I heard it getting shot when I heard the guns from the forest." She looked at him perplexed.

"Shane must have done it." He shrugged his shoulders with an uneasy look on his face.

"If I ever catch him going through my things again I'll kill him. When I get it back, would it be okay if I kept it in here?" She asked him and he nodded his head. She walked out of the RV and straight to Shane, "Where is it?"

"What?" He asked almost with an amused frustration.

"My AR-15."

"Herschel doesn't want us carrying on the farm." He leaned back on the car.

"Never said I was going to carry it. It's a military weapon and it shouldn't be in the hands of a civilian let alone someone I'm not that fond of." She didn't even need to put her hands on her hips and the attitude still exuded from her, "Now I'll ask one more time, where is it?"

He sighed and walked over to the back of his car and opened the hatch. Shane pulled out her gun very much unwillingly but she had already put a gun to his head and now that she had stated out loud that she didn't like him he was sure she wouldn't have any problems pulling the trigger. When she took it she walked back to the RV with it and when she found a safe enough spot for it to be she went back outside to smoke.

She only got four hits in when Glenn walked up, "Hey there Short Round. What's going on with you?"

"We're friends right?" He looked at her taking a seat across from her.

"Of course, what's up?" She asked now concerned.

He explained about his relationship with Maggie and how after she told him that she loved him he froze while getting shot at because he didn't want her to lose him and he asked, "You were military, you must have felt the same thing, right?"

"Oh yeah, more than you know." She said thinking about Evan and fighting side by side with him.

"How did you do it? How did you separate the two? How did you make love not make you weak?" He leaned forward.

"Well I guess it was that I wanted to hold him again. There for a while I had bullets flying past my head every day and the one thing that made me fire back so that the next one didn't hit its target was that I knew if it didn't I would get to see my loved ones again. When it happens and you want to freeze don't think about what the people you love will lose if you die, think about what you will lose if you die. While yes they may be the ones that have to deal with the aftermath, you are the one that ultimately loses. Love doesn't make you weak, it just gives you the strongest will to live that you can ever have." She said leaning back in her chair and inhaling on her cigarette.

"Wow. Never really thought of it that way." He spoke to himself, but she heard it.

Angel laughed, "Well you've also never loved someone before, which brings up another question, do you love her?"

"I don't know." He said after a moment of hesitation.

"Yes you do. Either you do or you don't the moment it took you to think of your answer was to long for it to have been anything else but logic trying to tell you that it was either to fast for you to fall in love, so you cant be in it, or that you don't love her but you don't want to hurt her either." Angel dropped the cigarette on the ground and snuffed it out with her shoe.

"Damn, did you become a prophet after wandering in the woods for a few days?" Glenn smiled at her.

"Well it took Moses forty days to get the ten commandments and that's one commandment per four days, so what I just gave you is probably as good as it's going to get." She laughed with him.

* * *

That night they all had dinner together and Herschel had finally convinced Angel that all she should eat was a bowl of soup. She wiped her mouth when she had and felt her stomach tense. She knew where the bathroom was from her shower and everyone watched as she ran from the table, only Daryl following her. They all heard the sound of her dinner coming back up and a few people winced at the noise. Daryl just watched and when she wiped her mouth again she looked over at him and saw the worried look on his face she smiled, "Don't worry, it's just because I haven't eaten much. Doc said it's likely to happen if I eat solids, guess liquids are in the mix to now."

"You ain't…"He pointed to her stomach and she laughed lightly at him.

"No, but we do need to talk about that." She said standing up preparing to return to the table, "Later though."

He nodded his head and followed her back, Carol looked at her, "You alright?"

"Yeah, nothing I haven't dealt with before." She smiled, "It was horrible after my first tour in Afghanistan."

"We could all use a story I think." Dale said with a smile and everyone agreed.

"Well home cooked meals we're rarer out there than they are now. We'd been living off protein bars and nutrition packets. We got shipped back home a few days before Easter and the family tradition was everyone went to my grandparents' house for the holiday and so when my brother and I got off the plane we headed straight there." She smiled remembering it like it was yesterday.

"You and your brother were in the military?" Lori asked.

"Yeah, drove my mom insane but she understood." Angel smiled at her, "Anyways when we got there I swear my grandma had made everything in her recipe book since it was going to be our first meal home in almost a year. We sat down at the table and everyone laughed as him and I piled food on to our plates. It was the best meal we ever had. Three servings in though it all changed, the second our forks hit the plate after it my brother looked at me and I knew he had the same feeling I did. We both beelined it for separate bathrooms and that's when my grandfather started laughing. He called after us 'I was going to warn ya but that wouldn't have been any fun! Welcome to the club kids!' I swear my mom wanted to hit him."

"Bet you guys learned your lessons." Andrea smiled.

"Kind of, we knew we needed to take it slow next time but we both headed for the kitchen for another helping since we had more room." Angel laughed and heard a few others join her.

"So since you're telling stories, what's this damn promise that you keeping saving people about?" T-Dog asked.

Angel scratched her forehead, "Fair question. It's the story that's behind the promise that's bad. But when one of my squadmates died, Haven," She saw the confused looks at the name she had given and explained, "We all had nicknames in our squad, his was Haven. But I went to return his dog tags to his parents since the two of had been close and I felt like they deserved to know more than just he was killed by a suicide bomber. After I told them they gave me his tags back and told me to promise them that I would never sacrifice a part of myself again like I had, and that no matter what the consequences were that I would always protect those who couldn't protect themselves."

"How did he die?" Maggie asked and her father hushed her.

"It's okay." Angel took a deep breath, "It's about time I told people. It was about four years ago, we were in Iraq. We had gotten some intel that there was going to be a bomber in a local bazar and so our commander sent us in to find the guy and take him out. When we got there and began looking for all the typical signs of the bombers we had run into before, you know, like large jackets, sweaty, nervous, we didn't see anything." Her voice began to shake, "Then suddenly I saw him. He was…he was just a kid, couldn't have been more than ten. Haven must have noticed where I was looking because he called for the others to get into cover. I was the closest…I had him in my sights, but he was just a boy," She could feel her body shaking and her lip quivering and she knew the tears would start coming soon, "Haven knew that I was having a hard time with it so he lowered his gun and dropped it to the ground, he left cover and started walking to the boy. He was our tech guy I guess he figured he could get the bomb off of him or something. My eyes were locked on that little boy and as Haven got closer I saw that he started to panic, he had probably been told what would happen to him and his family if he didn't go through with it. I saw him reaching for the switch and at that moment everything seemed to just go in slow motion. The numbers went through my mind of what would happen if that bomb went off, at least fifty people would die, and another fifty would have been injured, versus one boy, one little boy. Instinct and training took over and I took the shot. I watched as he fell to the ground and I had never hated myself or the army or that war so much than in that moment. Haven turned around and looked at me and at first I saw horror, then I saw understanding, he knew what had gone through my head and he understood. He started to walk back to us but what we hadn't known at the time was that there was a gunman on one of the roofs around us and he shot the vest the little boy had worn. Then next all there was…was a bright light and a deafening sound. I don't remember it but I must have gotten blown back, but must have gotten my bearings because the next thing I do remember was one of my squadmates dragging me back as I tried to get to where he had been," She had tears streaming down her face but she wasn't sobbing, it was a releasing cry, "I will always have the image of Haven being engulfed in that blinding light engraved in my head for the rest of my life."

"Haven, that's on your tattoo isn't it?" T-Dog leaned on the table.

"Yeah, when we lost someone we got them tattooed. We were squad six six five, so we called ourselves the Reapers." She said lifting her sleeve to look at it sniffling and dealing with the aftermath of her story.

"What about Fever?" Glenn who was on that side asked as he looked at the ink on her skin.

Angel laughed, "She was one of my best friends. We called her Fever because her body temperature was always higher than everyone elses. It averaged at like 99.8. She always had a hard time getting cleared for duty do we all just called her that. She had an unfortunate encounter with a roadside bomb just a few months before Haven died. Blew her legs clean off, but that's not what killed her. It was distance, we tied off the blood loss as best we could but when we started driving to get her to a safe zone her and I knew that the closest one wasn't close enough. She died in my arms, asking all of us to never forget her and saying she will put in a good word for us up stairs. The next day we all went and got this Arabic artist are really good, surprisingly."

"Haven," Sophia said after thinking about it for a while, "Was Evan wasn't he?"

Angel nodded and she felt the tears wanting to push their way out again, "Yup, he was…the one thing that got me through horrible times. He was the only person to love me unconditionally despite all the things I had done, even to his last second."

She didn't want to cry in front of them anymore so she excused herself from the table and went outside for a cigarette. She had just revealed two more things that had weighed her down and she felt the release in it, she hated what she had told them but it was better not having to carry it without having to hide it from them.

She didn't leave her tent until she was sure that she could exit without running into anyone and made her way to Daryls tent. She knocked and asked if he was still awake. When she heard him respond she unzipped the flap and climbed in. He sat up on his elbow and gave her a small smile, "Hey, you okay?"

He knew that what she had told the group earlier had been a lot to unload and probably something she had never wanted to remember, but was something she couldn't help but remember, "I'm fine, it happened a long time ago, but it still hurts to think about."

"When it stops hurtin' that's a problem. Taking a life-like that…aint somethin' no one should have to do, least of all you." Daryl said putting his hand on her arm.

"But if I hadn't someone else would have." She said sitting down beside his torso on the cot, "Plus not only did it help me prepare for this but it gave me the strength to endure what I had to the four years after it happened, I mean I wish I had gotten the strength a different way, but I'm glad I get the strength."

"Me too." He said giving her a weak smile, "So what'd you wanna talk about earlier?"

"Well I missed my birth control for five days." She said putting her hand on his chest, "So either we go on a hiatus, or we use condoms."

"Well damn, I guess I'm gunna have to find some condoms somewhere." He said smiling at her then pulled her down so her head would lay in the crook of his neck, "I've missed you these past few days."

"I heard, something about you wanting to tie me to a bed?" She laughed and although she didn't see it she was sure he was smiling.

"Funny. Maybe one day I'll get lucky enough." He let out a sigh.

"You get lucky every time you get with me." She faked attitude and he breathed out a laugh, "So how'd you get an arrow through your side?"

"Horse spooked, threw me off and sent me down a hill-side." He said and she tried not to smile as he wrapped his arms around her and got comfortable.

"Well damn I don't blame him, face like yours I'd get spooked too." She laughed and pulled her feet up so that she was almost laying on him instead of her feet still being where she had sat down.

"I take it this means you're staying here tonight?" He asked.

"Only if you want me to." She said and realized she didn't want to leave, not only was she actually really tired, she really had missed being with him and she silently hoped he wouldn't make her go.

"So long as you get rest you can stay, no activities for you tonight." He said holding her tighter, her voice sounding of sleep.

"Okay." She yawned and he almost tensed when her felt her nuzzle closer to him and at the same time he wanted to let the grin that was threatening to break through his face show, she wanted to be with him, not just have sex with him, because if that were the case he would have left when he said they weren't having any. He was tempted to give her a kiss on the forehead but her breathing had already slowed and he didn't want to move so much that he'd wake her, so he just enjoyed the feeling of having her wrapped safely in his arms.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sadness for Dale... I really did like him but I understand why he had to go... But that's not all folks! Let me know what you guys think!**

When Daryl walked back to the group after "questioning" Randall, Angel followed him back to his living area, "What all'd you do?"

"What's it matter? Got what I needed outta him." Daryl looked at her prepping his bow. When he saw the uneasy look on her face and how tense her body was he froze for a moment, "I just hit him a few times. You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." She said turning away from him and he saw her hand go to the back of her neck as she started to walk away. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Come on now, I know a lie when I see one." He turned her to look at him.

"I…I just don't like torture is all." She gave him a weak smile and saw the concerned look on his face, "Don't think about it too much, you might hurt yourself."

He wasn't sure if he should make a smart ass comment back or let her know that he knew she was deflecting the issue with humor. He never got the chance before Dale walked up to them. When he asked how they felt about killing the boy Daryl said he didn't really care so Dale turned to Angel and she shrugged her shoulders, "I don't really know how I feel about it, if we were in Afghanistan or Iraq he'd have been shot the second we heard he knew where camp was, but here and now every human life is a good thing. I just don't like the idea of letting him go but I don't really like the idea of letting him roam around with us freely."

"You just said a whole lotta nothin'." Daryl looked at her.

Dale looked between the two of them, "Since you're on the fence, side with me, save someones life. You're both good people and so is Rick, but Shane…"

"Is a murderer." Angel looked at him.

"Yeah killed that Otis guy." Daryl leaned on the old smoke pit.

"He tell you that?" Dale looked back and forth at the two of them.

"Not hard to figure out once you know the details." Angel shrugged her shoulders.

"Spins a pretty story but it's all in the facts, someone says they're gunna cover you and dies but you come back with his gun. Rick didn't think of it because he don't wanna." Daryl said before turning around and walking away, "I'll be back soon."

"Why aren't you going with him?" Dale looked at Angel.

"He doesn't want me too. He wants me to continue getting to full strength as he says." Angel said watching him walk away and hating not being allowed to go with him, she didn't like him being out there alone again. Her and Dale walked back to the main camp together and Angel headed for the house getting a small cup of water and some wet cloths. She headed to the shed where Randall was being held and Andrea looked at her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm assuming Daryl did a number on him, don't worry I won't kill him or set him free. I'm just bringing him some water and keeping him from dripping blood all over the place." Angel said unlocking the door and walking in. She looked at the kid and he got excited seeing her and she didn't change her expression as she looked over his face, "Looks like he went easy on you and didn't use any weapons."

"Yeah he did, pulled his knife on me." Randall sputtered.

"Doesn't look like he used it, Daryl could skin your little toe perfectly." She said wetting the cloth and wiping up some blood with it from his head.

"What backwoods freak dug it into my scab." He pleaded with her.

"Hey!" She said grabbing his chin, "That's my best friend you're talking about. And digging into a scab is nothing. You don't even know how bad torture can get. Unless the pain was so bad that you passed out or made you wish that you were dead, it wasn't that bad at all."

She slammed the cup of water down on the chair beside him and walked out of the door locking it behind her. Andrea just gave her a confused face and Angel just returned it with a smile. After she had been in her tent a while she heard the telltale knock that was Daryl and she sat up saying he could come in, "What'd you bring back?"

"Couple of squirrels, already skinned 'em." He said and she was about to ask him why he didn't tell her he was back and he hated to keep telling her that she needed her rest, but he didn't want to come that close to losing her again. He stopped her before she could say anything, "Come on, the meeting about the kid is about to happen."

Angel used the hand he had out to help her get out of the tent and they walked up to the house together in silence, but she couldn't help notice he kept his hand in hers. When they piled into the room she stood beside him as he leaned on a cabinet. She listened as the group argued and as Carol said she didn't want to decide Dale went off about how it shouldn't be survival of the fittest and that he shouldn't be punished for something he's yet to do and through it all Angel just wanted to look at him and say welcome to war, but she couldn't, she didn't know where she stood and she almost wanted to agree with Carol but she had always been taught that indifference is worse than hate, because it's no emotion at all. Angel had never felt this lost in a long time, they had never taken prisoners before and so she wasn't sure what the call to be made was, he couldn't be set free but he shouldn't be killed.

Dale gave up despite Andrea agreeing with him and Dale walked over to Daryl agreeing with him about the group being broken. Angel stayed leaned on a tree by the barn as she watched Daryl drag the kid behind Rick and Shane. He looked over at her while he walked and that when he realized he didn't speak up because of her, because he wanted to make sure she was safe, so that she didn't end up like the two girls in Randalls story that had been raped. As Angel watched him walk she knew that she hadn't said anything for similar reasons, almost a dozen people versus thirty or more…she knew those odds, and she knew that despite his distance from the group he would fight.

A few minutes after she watched them go into the barn she still hadn't heard a shot, she had sat down and was leaning on the tree when she heard the barn door get hit and she looked up and saw Daryl dragging him back to where he had been held. When he walked up to her he looked up at her and she couldn't tell his expression, "Rick couldn't do, his lil boy was there."

"Damn." She sounded saddened about Carl being there then she looked at Daryl, "Would you have been able to do it? Even if Carl hadn't have been there?"

"I-" His words got caught in his throat, "I don't know. Would you?"

"A year ago, yeah." She said and he heard the sadness in her voice.

Daryl placed his hand on the side of her face, "Hey, that's nothin to be ashamed of. You did what you had to back then."

"And is it any different from now? Am I just stuck in another war?" She asked him and he could hear that she was trying to not get upset.

"No. I'll fight the war, you just stay alive. I know that's gunna be hard for you to do, but if it's what easier for you, then I don't care." He spoke and she stepped forward wrapping her arms around him and he lightly returned it.

"I'll let you know if I ever want to take you up on that. I'm still a soldier, it's just the lines on what calls to make are blurrier now." She tried to give a smile as he ran his hand over her back but when a scream rang through the night they both instantly jumped away from each other and they both took off running towards the screams. Daryl got ahead of her and when they saw the walker on top of Dale he jumped knocking it off and stabbed it in the head. She sat there and didn't know what to do. His insides werent inside anymore and she didn't know how to put them back, she didn't know how to ease the pain. Dale just looked at her with wide scared eyes and they were a look she had seen too often. Daryl was calling the others over and Dale tried his best to breath out words to him, "Take Angel, she's, seen, enough, of, this."

When the others got there Daryl picked her up away from Dale and she didn't fight him, she was in shock, he turned her away and held her tight to his body, keeping her face pressed to his chest as he watched the other. He could feel her arms around him but her hands weren't touching him. She had tried to put pressure on the wound and gotten his blood on her hands and she couldn't use them at all, its as if they weren't even attached to her body. Daryl watched as Rick couldn't pull the trigger so he let Angel go to take the gun from him, knowing that if she were to turn and see the pain he was in she would have done it, she would have killed him and that just wasn't something he was going to let her do.

She jumped when the shot went off and Daryl had seen it and after handing the Python back to Rick he walked back over to her and this time she did put her arms around him and held him tight, and he returned the pressure of her embrace. He felt her trying not to cry, he knew she hated crying and she was partly because of what he had done, "I'm sorry Angel. I'm so sorry, but I had too."

"I understand." Was all she said in a soft voice, "Thank you for making it easier."

He held her tight and they listened to the others crying, he didn't care if they saw, he didn't care if they noticed, all he cared about was her. When she pulled away from him and looked up at him he thought she couldn't look younger with her eyes wide and water as she asked, "Can we go back to camp?"

He nodded his head and kept an arm wrapped around her as he walked her back up to his tent. He let her crawl in and he followed. Daryl took a cloth and dipped it in the water container he had in his tent and washed the blood from her hands. While he was cleaning them she just stared at the blood that was on them as it left, "We should have agreed with him, if we had he wouldn't have gone on a walk. He was upset that we didn't agree with him and if we had then he wouldn't have been out there and he wouldn't have…"

"Angel, don't do this to yourself." Daryl took her hands and looked up at her, "Don't blame yourself, you can't have known for sure what would have happened either way."

"Let's just…" She looked away from him, "Let's just get some rest."

"Okay." He said and crawled into the cot behind her after she had laid down, he wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear, "It'll be okay."

"I just don't want to lose anybody else, least of all you." She said turning in his arms and pressing her head into his chest and took a fistful of shirt in her hand.

"You won't, I'll always be here with you." When she looked up at him he didn't want another chance to pass him by. He slowly moved his face down to hers and tried not to be nervous. Angel wasn't sure what to do, she wanted him to kiss her, but she didn't think it was a good thing anymore.

"Daryl." She said pressing her forehead to his before their lips touched, "We shouldn't."

His heart stopped, it sounded like she wanted to but she was stopping him for some reason, "Why?"

"Either of us could die any day, I remember what I went through after losing Evan and I don't know if I could survive it again." She gripped his shirt even tighter.

"I just told you you're not gunna lose me!" He growled, "I know either of us could die any day. I try not to regret things in my life and when you went missin for all those days the one thing I regretted was never gettin to kiss you, never gettin to let you know how I feel and I don't want to ever regret that again."

"Daryl, I-" Her eyes were wide and she looked scared but it didn't stop him from cutting her off.

"Dammit Angel!" He said and slipped his hand to the side of her face, "I'll ask politely, but don't make me beg, not after all that's happened, after what just happened, please, let me kiss you."

"Never ask permission to kiss a-" She was cut off by his lips on hers and it felt like her heart was going to explode. His heart stopped when she didn't kiss him back for a moment until she wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted her body to press against his and he wrapped his arms around her waist, keeping her close.

Daryl thought he was a horrible kisser but she didn't seem to mind, they were panting and she wanted more, when her tongue ran over his top lip he broke away from her for a moment, "I'm sorry, I aint to good at this."

"Shut up." She smiled at him, "You're very good."

"Really?" He didn't believe her.

"Really. It's been a long time since a man has been able to turn me on with just his lips on mine." She said with a slight smile. He gave her a breathed laugh and she leaned back up and placed a light kiss on his lips.

He nuzzled his nose against hers and felt her inhale a deep breath fighting off a yawn. Daryl ran his hand over her back, "You didn't take a nap today did you?"

"No, Herschel said I shouldn't need to be soon, it's been like a week." She gave him an innocent smile.

He gave her a small smile, "Uh-huh, just like you claim you can eat a full meal now."

"I can." She avoided gaze.

"Yeah, and I'm the queen of England." He picked on her.

"Shut up." She gave him a light shove and he laughed at her.

"Get some sleep." He said to her and she nodded before pressing her lips to his once more and what was meant to be a peck became tender, comforting kiss. When he felt himself getting excited he broke away from her, "Really though, you need rest."

"Mmhmm." Was all he got as she nuzzled into his chest and gave him a light kiss there before closing her eyes and falling asleep with a smile.

The next morning he let her sleep in while he helped the others dig the grave for Dale. When Daryl walked into the tent he saw her shift at the noise he had made. Sitting down beside her he slowly leaned over, wanting to try to kiss her before she woke up, and when he pressed his lips to hers he felt her smile. When her hand snaked up to brush through his hair she held him there and didn't want to let him go, or remember what had happened the night before to Dale. When they parted Daryl looked at her with sad eyes, "Come on, its time."

She nodded her head and walked with him back to where they had made the graves for Herschels wife and step-son. He held her hand through the ceremony and he noticed she wouldn't look at the grave but she also didn't shed a tear.

Later they began loading and unloading the cars since Herschel said they should move into the house since winter was coming and it would be safer and more practical for them to have a real roof over their heads. Rick sent Daryl and Shane to start boarding up the open spots and to make guard perches for them to take watch on. Angel helped with the unloading since both Daryl and Herschel thought it wasn't yet time for her to join them with the hard labor again and she begrudgingly agreed with them. After a while of watching Daryl board stuff up she went into the kitchen and got him a glass of tea, since there werent any beers, and took it out to him. As she walked up he didn't notice her and she smiled up at getting the chance to sneak up on him, "Hey there workin man, need something to wet your throat?"

"Yeah, but it aint tea that I want." He smiled at her and moved to the side of the roof he was on and leaned over the edge to grab the glass from her as she stood on a chair.

"I bet." She winked at him and laughed, "If you'd be okay with it, I don't think I want to let the others know just yet…about us…if there is an us."

"There always has been, just not in the same way there is now, don't think they need to be knowin our business anyhow." He smiled at her. She turned hearing Sophia call her from the house and she looked back up at him.

"Guess I'll see you later." She smiled at him and began walking away.

"You can bet on that." He called after her.

When she got back to the house the girl had wanted to ask her if she would be sleeping near them so that Angel could sing her to sleep, "Oh you don't need me to do that anymore, you got your mom now."

"I know, but I still like to hear you sing." She said with a smile.

"I think about it okay? See where everyone else is landing then go from there." She smiled at the girl and got a quick nod in response. Herschel called her over next.

"Rick asked Andrea to look in after Shane while he and Daryl are away, why didn't he ask you?" The old man asked.

"Well it would only be guessing, but it might be because I've put a gun to Shanes head before and we've never quite seen eye to eye on things." Angel shrugged her shoulders.

"That maybe, but I would like to ask that you keep an eye on him too, I hope it doesn't come to you having to shoot him, but from what I've heard from the others and everything that you've done since you've been here, like not resting even though I tell you to, I'm guessing you can stand your ground with him and I'd greatly appreciate it." Herschel looked up at her through his brow.

"Consider it done." She smiled at him.

A little while later she walked out on the porch and saw Daryl and Rick talking about the trip they were gunna be making and she had to admit she didn't like him going out there without her, bad things seemed to happen when to each other when they werent together but she knew neither of them were going to let her go just yet.

When Rick asked Daryl about the night before and shooting Dale all he replied was "You should be the one to do all the hard work." And Rick couldn't help but notice him glance over at Angel who was standing by the front door. Daryl excused himself and went inside motioning for her to follow him. When she did they were in the bathroom he spoke first, "I know you wanna go but ya cant."

"Look Daryl I know, I know I'm still technically sick but I can't just stand around and do nothing." She almost pleaded.

"Angel, I don't want nothin' to happen to ya." He said placing his hand on her cheek, "I want ya to be hunrd percent before you start kick ass and takin names again."

"I understand that, but please don't start codling me now, I hate being coddled. They tried it all the time in the military at first because I was a woman, and I wanted to shoot them for it, don't make me want to shoot you." She placed her hands on his chest.

"Next time, next time I make a run you can go okay?" He put his hands on her waist and saw a spark in her eyes, "I promise."

Her lips were on his and he almost laughed at her excitement then wondered what it had been like when she was told she was allowed to go on a mission during the war, he would have loved to have known what she was like before the world went to hell. He bet she had an even more stunning smile and an even better sense of humor.

She walked him out to the car when it was time for them to leave and he gave her his nod before T-Dog went to get the prisoner and she gave him her nod back with a small smile. Before she got in the door of the house she heard T-Dog yelling that he was gone, she ran behind Daryl and Rick to the coop where he had been and everyone began inspecting the bindings and the area around. After Shane came up saying that he was armed and had knocked him out Rick called for Glenn and Daryl to go with them to search and Daryl spoke up, "Angel should come too, she can help me track."

"You up for it?" Rick turned to her and she nodded and they headed off to follow him.

Angel and Daryl didn't see any tracks and they shared a concerned look, which when Shane said there was no sense in tracking him that he went another way her look turned into clear disbelief. Daryl turned and asked how a kid who was a hundred and twenty-five pounds got the jump on him, "Hell he wouldn't 've even gotten the jump on Angel when she was exhausted walking in the woods."

When Rick split them up Angel went with Daryl and after they were a fair distance away she said, "You think that was smart? Letting him go alone into the night with Shane?"

"No." Daryl said eyes on the ground, "Didn't have much choice though did we?"

"Why whats wrong with Shane?" Glenn asked.

"He's losing it." Angel answered back, "More so now that Loris pregnant and he wants the baby to be his."

"Good call on that by the way." Daryl said remembering their conversation of people she would want to have sex with and her saying that Shane was with Lori, "How'd you know?"

"I pay attention." She shrugged her shoulders, "Speaking of paying attention, Shane didn't want us to track, I vote we go back and start over."

"True, if you gonna do something right better start from the beginning." He said as they started to double back. As they did they realized Shane must have followed him longer than he had said and when Daryl pointed out blood on a tree she stood up next to hit.

"About Shanes height, wouldn't you say?" Both men nodded in agreement and Daryl pointed out more tracks. They noticed a scuffle and then heard footsteps and used trees to hide themselves, when they got closer Glenn stepped out to get the jump on him and was surprised to see a walker version of Randall and got knocked back. Daryl went to go shoot him but the walker was lunging and he missed as the walker pinned him under his bow. Angel grabbed the walker from behind and pulled him off but the weight of it knocked her back so she was pinned under its back. Glenn shoved it off of her and put his blade through its head.

Daryl looked at her and asked if she was alright and she said yeah and they both gave Glenn pats on the shoulder. Angel paused for a minute looking at the body, "There aren't any bites…and it looks like his neck was snapped."

"What?" Glenn sounded confused.

"You see it a lot overseas, it leaves a telltale sign of stretching on the neck skin. Plus there aren't any bites, so how the hell did he turn?" Angel looked up at the two men.

"I don't like it when you think too much." Daryl said to her, "So stop it."

"Sorry." She muttered with a smile as they walked back to the house.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I have such great reviews coming in! Thanks everyone! And we say good by to the farm today, but I actually really like the prison, but I hate Woodbury so when I get to those chapters they might be a little worse than they actually are haha! But keep letting me know what yall think or if you have anything you want to see! I put everything I hear from you guys in a little file in my brain :)**

They got back to the house and everyone asked about Randall when they explained about him being a walker but not having been bit and Shanes tracks being right on top of his Lori asked for them to go and find Rick and Shane since they weren't back yet. Daryl nodded and they headed for the door, Andrea followed them and when they made it to the porch they saw the walkers all around the barn. Angel just stared while the other three looked at the others, the only words that left her lips were, "Dear God."

Glenn went and got the rest of the group and Herschel told Patricia to turn off all this lights, Angel followed her in as she heard Daryl say something about a herd that size ripping the house down. She ran to her bag and pulled out her body guards and hooked her machete on her waist then grabbed as much ammo as she could just in case while throwing her AR-15 over her back. She came back out as everyone was loading their guns. Herschel wanted to stay and defend the farm, saying that he'd die there Daryl took a quick look at Angel, "Good a night as any."

She watched as he jumped over the banister and she went down the porch steps to meet him on the ground, "Daryl, I go down you make sure that I stay down, then you get my tags okay?"

"You aint goin no where." He said then he looked back at the herd and knew that there was always a chance, "And if you do, you aint goin alone."

She gave him a sad smile, knowing what he meant but hating the way it sounded. She looked around real quick and saw no one around or looking at them and she took him by the collar and pressed her lips to his, "We survive, there's plenty more where that came from."

"Imma hold ya to it." He gave her a cocky grin. She threw her bag into the back of the car Glenn would be driving, the things in there were her life, almost more important than it and after she got on top of the RV so that she would have a good vantage point to pick them off while they were moving while he was on his motorcycle. Before she was at the top and they started moving Andrea and Glenn, who would be shooting out of the other cars looked at her.

"Got any advice for shooting out of a moving vehicle?" Glenn yelled.

"Yeah, use whatever you can to keep the gun steady and keep your sights on their heads and not stable on the car." She smiled and he couldn't help but see a wild look in her eye, he knew this was where she was meant to be, in a fire fight, its where she had always been, this is what she loved to do.

When the fence came down Daryl yelled that maybe Rick or Shane had lit the barn on fire and that they should go around back and see if they need help. She held on tight as the RV moved and when they came around the side of the barn she saw Rick and Carl on the perch. As they jumped to the overhang on the barn she held her hand out to them to help them get on the roof.

Angel heard screaming on the inside of the RV and looked over the edge to see them eating Jimmy, she called out his name and he looked at her with pleading eyes, she took her pistol and shot him in the forehead then followed Rick and Carl down the back ladder, the RV had been lost. As her and Rick shot their way through the horde she yelled at him, "You keep eyes on Carl, I've got our six!"

Rick went one way in the forest and she went the other, they were hoping to make it around the group and meet up with the others while slimming them down, Angel ran fast, she could hear screaming and she couldn't tell who it was. She came around and found Carol running with a scared look on her face, "Carol! Are you okay, where's Sophia?"

"Walkers had me pinned Andrea got rid of them, Sophia's with Lori." Carol said holding on to the girl.

"Okay, come on we have to keep moving, stay close!" Angel yelled and started taking out more walkers, she knew she wouldn't have much ammo left pretty soon so she used her rounds sparingly as she could.

"Andrea's still over there!" Carol said.

"I know but we have to get you safe first, for Sophia okay?" She said and Carol nodded with tears streaming down her face.

Daryl watched from a side road as the barn burned with the RV next to it. He hadn't seen Angel get off, and he didn't know if she was alive and he was in the worst torment of his life. He was about to take off when he heard someone scream his name. It was Angel and she had Carol right behind her. He revved his engine and sped over to where they were. Angel took Carol by the shoulders, "You get on and you hold on tight, I'll go get Andrea."

"You can't you wont make it." Carol said through sobs.

"She's right, theres a wall of em between the two of ya. Get on." He said.

"Bike cant carry three Daryl and I don't like leaving anyone behind." She said to him then looked at Carol, "Tell Sophia I'll be right behind you guys okay? And Lori that Rick has Carl" She took a look at where Andrea was and knew this was probably a suicide mission, she took her tags off and handed them to Daryl, "I'll be wanting those back."

He called out for her as she ran back towards the house yelling Andrea's name. She looked around and didn't see the girl but did see the two horses that Herschel owned rearing up by a tree that the walkers had yet to make it to. Angel ran as fast as her legs could take her and released the first horse, the one she knew was easily frightened and smacked it on the ass making it run, she climbed onto the second one and took off slicing the heads of any walker that got near them as she called out Andreas name. She couldn't see the girl anywhere, she tried to make another lap around the house calling her name but the horse reared when a walker cut it off and she was glad someone had left the bit in its mouth as she held onto the reigns with the machete and shot the walker with her other hand, she was also glad that her brother had convinced her to take that class on double-handed shooting.

Angel knew if she stayed much longer she would be dead so she urged the horse in the direction that Daryl had gone and followed his tracks down the road and past a crossing where there was a car crash and walkers, this was a quarter horse and by god if it wasn't fast she hunched over and let the horse gallop as fast as it could on the dirt road. After a half hour of this she let the horse stop and take a break, Daryls tracks werent going anywhere anytime soon.

When Daryl and Carol got to the highway with the others she hugged her daughter and thanked Lori for keeping her safe and when everyone started asking about the others and no one could say what happened to Andrea, Glenn looked at Daryl, "Angel?"

"She went back for Andrea, said she wouldn't be too far behind us." He looked at his boots, hoping she would show up soon, he wasn't sure what was worse anymore not knowing or not, "I stayed on dirt as much as I could so she could follow my tracks up.

"We can't stay here much longer." Rick looked at them.

Sophia piped up, "If she said she'll be here, then she will."

"I'm with Sophia." Carol said and Glenn agreed.

"She gave me these, I know she'll come back for 'em." Daryl said holding up her dog tags.

"An hour, that's all we can give her." Rick said looking around at them, "And let's hope she has Andrea with her."

Angel had the horse pick up speed again and kept following the bike tracks until she knew where they were going, he had gone back to the highway were they had first broken down. She urged the horse on faster, they wouldn't wait much longer for her and she knew it. When she made it to the highway she kept the horse on the side of the road since the cement wasn't good for the horse to gallop on. She saw the cars driving away.

Glenn kept his head in his hand as he drive away, he couldn't believe they were leaving Angel again. Maggie was holding his hand and she looked out the window and as her eyes passed over one of the side mirrors she saw something, "Stop the car!"

He slammed on the breaks and honked so the others would know what he was doing and saw them all stop as well with their heads turned back. Daryl turned and kicked his bike up on its stand when he saw Angel coming up the road on a horse. He got off the bike and she dropped from the back of the animal and she wrapped her arms around him, "I couldn't find her, not even a body, she was gone. I had to turn around while I could before I got cut off by walkers." She turned to everyone else who had just came up to her and she looked at them all, "I'm sorry."

Sophia wrapped her arms around Angels waist and Angel returned the hug. They told her what the plan was and she climbed back on the horse while Carol stayed on the bike, honestly Angel felt better with the woman riding with Daryl knowing that he would keep her safe if only for Angel.

Angel called out to Herschel before he got back in the car, "I hope you don't mind me borrowing the horse…or setting the other one free so it wouldn't be made dinner."

"No, I appreciate it a lot, thank you." He said in reply with a slight smile.

The cars were going slow to conserve gas and that gave her the chance to let her new ride take a break ever now and then and go to a canter or trot. They eventually needed to stop because Rick was out of gas and they all started talking about what it is they needed to do because they had nowhere to go and it was getting cold out. Then Daryl brought up Randall and how he hand been bit but still turned. That's when the bomb dropped.

"We're all infected." Rick spoke after a moment.

Everyone looked at him confused. When he explained and walked off Angel went with Daryl to find some fire wood for the night. She looked at him, "What do you think?"

"Bout what?"

"About Rick not telling us about what Jenner said." She picked up a branch.

"Don really care. Whats your take on it?" He turned his head towards her a bit.

"I think he was right, there was no point telling everyone if we didn't know for sure, plus there isn't much we can do to stop it." Angel shrugged, "The others aren't going to be happy about it, they're going to take it as he's turning into Shane."

"He prolly will a little." Daryl grabbed a larger branch.

"People will want to leave." She stopped and looked at him.

"What do you want to do?" He put a hand on her shoulder.

"I want to stay with you." She put her hand on his waist and brought her head to his shoulder.

"I think we can manage that." He placed a kiss on the top of her forehead and heard her laugh, "What?"

"It's funny, you're such a rough and tough guy even after we started sleeping together, but this past week you've been kinda sweet and, dare I say, tender." She smiled up at him.

"I almost lost you. And I aint gunna treat you bad, my ol' man treated my ma like shit, I said I wasn't ever gunna treat a woman I cared about like that." He ran a thumb over her cheek.

She smiled and got up on her toes to give him a kiss, "Come on we should probably finish getting the stuff for the fire."

He agreed and they continued gathering branches. After a moment of silence he spoke up, "So the sex, it gunna get better?"

"If that's even possible." She laughed and he gave a small smile. When she saw how the question he asked was still in his eye, "Have you never had sex in a relationship before?"

"No." He said quietly and a little defensive, "I've never had sex with a girl I had feelings for before."

Her jaw dropped and when she saw him getting flustered she quickly spoke, "It's okay. Sometimes the sex is different, sex with feelings is more than just filling a need, it's a connection that's unexplainable."

"I…I don't know how to…" He wouldn't look her in the eye and quietly whispered, "Make love."

He was shocked when he felt her lips on his, "You'll know how when you're ready to."

"Why didn't I meet you years ago?" He nuzzled his face to hers, she accepted him for who he was and what he'd done, if he'd had that years ago he might not have gotten into the trouble he had gotten into, or he might have gotten away from his dad a lot sooner.

"Because I was away at war." She pressed her forehead to his, "And I guess we weren't meant to meet until now." She let out a small laugh, Sophias words ringing in her mind, "Fate."

He placed a soft kiss on her lips, "Hell I even wonder when the next time we'll get to have sex is."

"We'll find time." She smiled at him, "Come on, it's starting to get cold, we have to keep the kids warm."

When they returned they listened to the others talk about how they shouldn't stay with Rick and both her and Daryl said that Rick was alright in their books. Then when he showed up he told them that if they wanted to try on their own then they could go ahead, but no one took him on the offer. He told them it wasn't going to be a democracy anymore and Daryl looked at Angel and she looked back and whispered, "It's going to be a long winter."

Later that night she saw Daryl shiver a little bit and remembered something, she grabbed her bag and walk over to where he was sitting up against a wall. She pulled out the poncho she had grabbed on her trip to Atlanta and handed it to him, "Here."

"Keep it, you need to stay warm." He said to her.

"I grabbed it for you when I went into town with Merle that day." She smiled at him and he slowly reached for it, "I saw it and knew you'd hate it immediately so I grabbed it."

He let out a small laugh, "Thoughtful of you."

"I like to think so." She smiled and before he draped the cloth over himself he pulled her next to him and covered them both with it.

"Body heat." He said, "Keeps you even warmer."

"I'll say." She bundled up into him and they both tried to sleep.

* * *

She had been right, the winter was long, and every day Lori grew bigger, Herschels beard got fuller, and Angel and Daryl had no time to themselves. They scavenged what food, gas, and supplies they could find. It was hard for Angel and Daryl to even hunt with the animals hiding for the winter and anytime they didn't have the cars to use she was sure to have Lori ride the horse since her walking around all the time wasn't good for her in that weather.

They had crossed as much territory as they could and been cut off by herds most of the way. Eventually winter passed and when they stopped to figure out where they would go Angel, Daryl and Rick decided to go hunt for anything they could find while T-Dog and Glenn went to get water. They walked down a set of railroad tracks, she assumed Rick thought they might lead them somewhere and he was right, they saw the prison from across a creek and she wanted to groan, for months they had gone in circles and this place was right by their damn starting point. She looked at Rick and saw the glimmer in his eye. She knew they would be clearing that field in about an hour.

When they had gotten back to the group they made their way to the prison and came up with a plan to clear the field. Rick knew she was the best shot so he had her on the tower with the best sight to the fence he would be at and she picked any walker off that got near him that he wasn't able to shoot. Angel sat around the fire and put a portion of the food off to the side for Daryl who wanted to take first watch of the night. When she was done she took it over to him and he smiled as he took it from her before she climbed up to sit on the edge of the bus. He sat down next to her as he ate and she smiled as he purposely brushed his arm against hers, "Better be careful with that, Sophia had a very observant eye."

"I haven't been able to touch you in weeks, I'll take what I can get." He smiled at her.

"Speaking of which," She smiled at him, "Plenty of space here, guard towers for privacy."

He laughed at her, "All you want is my body, huh?"

"Well it is a pretty good one from what I remember." She smiled and he tensed as her hand went up his thigh.

"Later tonight, after everyone's gone to bed." He smiled then hopped from the truck and held his arms out for her to jump to him, when she did he wrapped his arms around her, "That's if you aint asleep now that we have a place to."

"I'm sure I can stay up long enough to wear myself out." She smiled at him then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a passionate kiss. He groaned quietly when her tongue slipped into his mouth and she ran it lightly over the roof of his mouth. As he went to go and put his arms around her, almost prepared to drag her into a tower right then, she backed away, "I'll see you tonight."

"Fuckin' tease." He said walking behind her. As they walked up they could hear Beth singing The Parting Glass, Angel knew it from her mother and grandmother who used to sing it while cleaning up after the holidays. When Maggie joined in Sophia looked up at her and Angel smiled.

She took a seat next to Glenn and joined them in singing and everyone's head turned to her. Daryl had never heard her sing before other than quiet mumbles but she had a beautiful voice. When they got done singing Herschel looked at her, "Howd you know that song?"

"My mom and grandma." She tucked a hair behind her ear, "They taught me how to sing, hell nights like this with my brothers guitar got a lot of us through our tours in the middle east."

He smiled at her and she saw Daryl doing the same thing and when Rick came over he told them that tomorrow he wanted to take the inside, and Angel agreed that it was a good idea, they needed a roof over their head and a place that would mask the sound of giving birth. She watched as one by one the others fell asleep and when she sat up she saw Daryl lying facing her with his eyes open watching her. She smiled at him then walked to the far side of the field where a guard tower was that Rick wouldn't see them in.

She had barely made it up the first flight of stairs when his arms were around her waist and he was trailing kisses down the side of her neck. Angel pushed her body back into his and could already feel him growing against her. Turning around she leaned her head back for him to get more access to her neck as he placed open mouth kisses down her pulse points. She ran her fingers through his hair and enjoyed the fact that it was getting longer and her other hand started working the buttons on his shirt. When he felt this he pulled back a little, "You wanna wait and go all the way up or no?"

"No." She said and he smiled before covering her mouth with his. Their tongues danced around each other's as she finally got the last button free on his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders. Her hands ran over his back and torso, not caring about the bumps that his scars caused and that's what he liked about her.

He slid his fingers under her shirt and ran his thumbs across her hip bones, she had lost some weight that didn't need losing during the winter, but he didn't care she still felt the same to him, was still his Angel. He lifted her shirt over her head and took the moment of broken contact to lay her down on the landing before crawling on top of her. When his lips touched hers again he found himself wanting to explore her, all of her, he wanted to memorize every scar, every freckle, every imperfection that made her perfect. He trailed kisses down her jaw to her neck and down her sternum, placing little nips and sucks along the way.

Daryl smiled when she arched her back to him as he kissed down her stomach and took the opportunity to reach behind her and unhook her bra. As he made his way back up to her chest she was already removing the fabric but he skipped over her mounds and began kissing her again. When she groaned a little he laughed, "Pay backs a bitch aint it?"

"Asshole." She murmured before his fingers found her hardened nipple and he began rolling it between his fingers.

"Am I?" His voice in her ear and shivers went down her spine at the husk in it. He gave another little laugh when she couldn't respond as both of his hands were now working on her breasts. Her arms were over his shoulders one gripping his back tightly and the other one in his hair as he trailed kisses around her collar-bone. When he got to the valley between the two peaks he gave it a light lick before moving his mouth to one of her nipples.

His warm mouth on her sensitive skin made her gasp and her hips automatically ground into his and he moaned, having really missed the contact. He could feel how fast her heart was beating and her grip on him getting tighter. Her mind was blurry but she managed to bring her hands down to his belt and pants buckle and began fumbling to get it off. When he pulled back out of her reached she gave him a look of confusion, "Not yet. Be patient."

She wanted to roll her eyes at him but couldn't manage it when she felt the scruff on his face skim her lower stomach as his hands dealt with her zipper and button. He made quick work of it then slowly moved the fabric down her legs kissing ever inch he unveiled. He gently pulled off her boots before taking her jeans off all the way and when he looked back down at her body he got even harder, if that was possible, when he saw she was wearing his favorite underwear, it's like she had known.

Daryl moved back on top of her and began kissing her again, they were long drawn out kisses as his hand snaked down her body and slipped under the dark green lace and right up to her entrance. He felt her breath shutter as he ran his middle finger around her opening and only dipped in slightly with it at first, wanting to make his time with her last as long as possible. She gasped breaking the kiss as he inserted his finger all the way and began moving it against the bundle of nerves inside her. He added a second finger, then his thumb and worked at a slow and steady rhythm listening to her labored breathing, enjoying the firm grip she had on him. Right as she was about to cum he pulled his fingers away and she groaned at the loss. He sat back on his heels and slowly removed her panties before situating himself between her legs.

Her head fell back when she felt his tongue slide between her folds, he had never done this before, they had never gotten this personal with each other so this was completely new for her. He pressed his hands to her hips to keep her from moving to much as he swirled his tongue around her clit. When he began to suck on the nub she arched herself to him pushing him further into her and he knew she was close. She knew she was too and her hand went to his head and tangled it in his hair to keep him there so that he didn't leave her hanging again. When he didn't move as her body went over the edge she wanted to scream his name but she knew better so she just whimpered unknown words and sounds as he continued to lap at her, prolonging her orgasm.

He sat up licked his lips before pulling off his own pants and boxers then kissed his way back up her body. When their mouths met she held him there for a moment before pulling away from him, "Please, I want you."

Daryl didn't need to be told twice he covered her mouth with his again and slowly pushed his way into her. They both moaned into each other's mouths and he snaked his fingers through her chocolate colored hair while steadily pumping into her and never letting his mouth leave hers. Angel broke away, needing air and he began kissing her neck and any other skin he could get to. She moaned, "Oh Daryl."

She wrapped her legs around his hips allowing him to get deeper inside her and when he was all the way inside of her he couldn't fight back his own moan which also consisted of her name. She loved the sound of her name coming out of his mouth like that and wanted to hear it again so she began nibbling on his ear and running her nails gently down his back and she got her result.

He felt her begin to tighten around him and wrapped his arms around her to where they were completely entangled. Her whimpers became louder the closer she got so he pressed his mouth to hers and when her body arched against his and tightened around all of him he heard a muffled cry exit her mouth into his. He stayed like that until he was exploding inside of her a few minutes later to which he returned a groan.

When they were done they didn't untangle themselves but remained on the landing of the stairs sweaty and naked and placing feather light kisses on the other anywhere they could find. Eventually he pulled himself from inside of her and she gave a whimper, still being sensitive. He helped her up and went to their clothes and helped each other get dressed before leaving the tower to see that no one had noticed their absence.

Angel went to head back to where she had been laying before but he stopped her and pulled her down to where he was laying, and whispered in her ear, "Fuck 'em, I don't care what they think."

"Good. Me either." She smiled pushing her back into him and feeling him string an arm around her waist.

"You're mine now, aint nuttin gunna change that." He pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

"Better not." She smiled before they got the best sleep they gotten in a while.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: So I just remembered that Merle will be coming back soon and now I'm SUPERDUPERDY EXCITED! Haha but its not in this one, but let me know what you think!**

They had cleared the courtyard and Cell Block C and were all choosing cells to sleep in. They were smaller than the one Angel had been held in but she just told herself to think of it like the barracks at boot camp. When she got that thought in her mind it was comforting. Daryl said he would take the perch, not wanting to sleep in a cage and she just smiled at him and nodded as she walked into the one that was hers.

She unpacked her bag for the first time since the quarry and let out a sigh of relief, she had a place to call home, even if it wasn't much, but it was a place to settle even if for just a little while. She placed her clothes on the make shift desk that was there and she got to the pocket that had all the dog tags she had in it, she held them in her hand and the one on top made her smile, it was Evans. Angel thought she wasn't lucky, she never thought she would ever find someone like him again, but she had. While Daryl wasn't exactly the same the most important thing was that he had real feelings for her and he didn't care what she had done in the past. She hung them on the bunk post until she would be able to find something to hang them on the walls, she would have a spot for each of them.

Next she pulled out her uniform and dusted it off, she hung her jacket on the back end of the bed so that her name was showing to anyone that walked in. When she reached the bottom of her bag she pulled out a box and sat down on the bunk, not sure if she should open yet before she had a place to put what was inside it.

Daryl walked over to the cell that he had seen Angel walk into and walked over and leaned on the door frame, he gave a small smile when he saw the tags and her jacket hanging on the bed. He saw her sitting there with a metal box in her hand, "Whatcha got there?"

"Memories." She said running her hand over the top of it and looking at looked up at him with watery eyes. He came over and sat down next to her.

"Can I see?" He asked leaning into her.

She nodded her head and opened the box and he saw a pile of pictures inside. She pulled them out and began showing him. The first one was a picture of three girls and five guys all in uniform, "The original Reapers." She said, "That was Fever." She pointed to the girl who was next to Angel on one side. She had tan skin and black hair but vibrant green eyes. Angel pointed to the other girl who was blonde and pale, "My other best friend, Sunny. Then this one is Haven, or well Evan." She said and pointed to the man who was behind her in the picture with his hands on her shoulder. Daryl had to admit that the man was handsome, green eyes, light brown hair, pearl white smile, someone who was much more attractive than Daryl thought himself was. "This is Romeo," She said pointing to the man next to Evan. He looked like a typical guy in the military but instead of a straight face he had a huge grin on, it reminded him of a character from a movie he had seen once, Independence Day, the guy who had played Will Smiths best friend before he was killed. "Then we have Beater, Chance, and Maestro, I mean Aiden, my brother." She pointed to them respectively and he noticed her hand linger over her brother for a moment and the closer he looked at the picture he saw how alike they were. She set the picture down beside her, "It was taken at the start of our third tour together, before we lost Fever and Haven."

"Angel and Aiden huh?" Daryl gave a small laugh.

"Yeah, We're twins." She gave him a grin.

"Who's older?"

"Aiden, fifteen minutes before me, almost killed me actually." She laughed.

"What? How?" He looked at her confused.

"Well when he was born something weird happened, I guess his feet pushed me away and back up into the womb so when it was my turn they couldn't get me out and I almost suffocated." She laughed, "I never let him live it down."

"Damn woman, fightin since the day you was born." He gave her another laugh.

She continued to show him pictures, ones of the girls together, clearly on leave since they were in civilian clothes holding bottles of Jack, Rum, and Vodka. Some were of her and Evan, some were of the group again without Fever and Haven but with a new guy she called Data, and some were of her and her brother. The closer she got to the bottom were the pictures of her family, her and her parents before they died, some with her grandparents, the last one she pulled out was a huge group of people, "This was the last Christmas before my parents died. We had the whole family together for the first time in years. My uncles, aunts, cousins, in-laws, a crap load of kids, hell even the Reapers were there. It was a mad house that year."

"Looks like you guys were having fun though." He took the picture and saw that she was on her brothers shoulders holding up a glass and Romeo and Chance were messing with her legs.

"It was. Best time I've had in a long time." She said leaning her head on his shoulder, "Thanks for listening. I wasn't sure if I wanted to open it or not."

"Why?" He put his arm around her.

"Because…I was afraid of how I'd react." She scooted closer to him, "That was a long time ago, a different life…Even before the walkers."

He watched as her hand flittered to the back of her neck, "I haven't looked at them since…"

"Shhh." He said and wrapped her arms around her, "If ya can't talk about it then don't try and force it, it'll come when it comes."

"The nightmares…I'm sorry…" She muttered and he knew then whatever it was she had been through was what was causing her nightmares, "I thought they were over."

"All that matters is that I'm there when ya wake up from them." He said and turned her face giving her a kiss, "We've had a busy day, get some rest."

* * *

She made sure Herschel was being taken care of then went back to join Daryl in waiting for the men from the cafeteria to show up. They were already there when she walked out of the cell block and she raised her AR-15 when the one in front pointed his gun at Daryl, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Mine has a better kick and I'm sure I've had more training."

She heard Daryl give out a laugh at his words as one of the prisoners said that they should just go. T-Dog showed up and the gun was now pointed at him while the man said it was his house and he goes where he pleases, Angel had an idea, she pulled her dog tags up for him to see, "Sorry but this house belongs to the U.S. Army now."

The man stopped and stumbled on words for a moment, when Rick showed up he asked how long they had been locked in that room and they said ten months. One guy said that they thought the National Guard or the Army should be showing up soon and pointed to Angel, Rick looked at her, "She's pretty much what's left of the Army, in Georgia at least."

They took the prisoners outside so they could see what was left of the world and they asked how they got in the prison anyhow and Daryl pointed and told them the guy asked if it was that easy, Daryl replied, "Where there's a will there's a way."

"Plus prisons are meant to keep people in, not out." Angel added.

"Had experience with that?" Daryl looked at her with a smile.

"Breaking in and out of one." She gave him a sad smile in return.

When the Hispanic one started demanding they leave his cell block weapons were back up, Rick said for half the food they would help clear them out a cell block on the other side of the prison and they begrudgingly agreed. The leader of their group looked at Angel and gave her a smile, "Army, why don't you hang out with us on our side of the prison. I'm sure you could use getting away from these three."

"Aint gonna happen." Daryl spit at him.

"What the redneck trailer trash has his eye on you?" The man looked at her with a cocky smile. She felt like she needed a shower after his eyes ran up and down her body, she felt disgusting, and she saw Daryl wanting to lunge at him but she held her hand up and he didn't move.

"You heard Rick, you stay away from us, and _our _cell block." She said with a harsh voice, "And if I see you and Rick doesn't, you won't even know you've been killed."

Daryl watched as she lowered her gun and walked back to their cells and the others followed, Daryl keeping eyes on the Hispanic man. He went with Rick to get half the food and Angel said she was going to go check on Herschel when she did she was asked to see if there was anything of use to them in the area of the Prison that was secure and she nodded heading for the cafeteria.

Daryl looked at the food, "Man, Ang is gunna have a field day with this stuff. She can make a squirrel taste like prime rib with a freakin' leaf."

As if his words called her up she appeared and looked at him, "A little spice can go a long way if used right. Can't survive living on your own without knowing how to cook." She started looking through cabinets for any gauze or more towels and continued her train of thought, "Lucky you got me and not my brother, cant skin worth shit and only knows how to burn water."

"How's he doing?" Rick asked her referring to Herschel.

"Still bleeding but it's slowing down, we're gunna need something to wrap it and possibly some antibiotics." She said grabbing a few towel and aspirin, "I was hoping there might be something here since we haven't found the infirmary yet, military mess halls kept things for allergic reactions in the cafeteria just in case. I guess they care more about us than they do prisoners."

"Rightly so." Daryl said, "Puttin your life on the damn line every day least they can do is keep you from dyin of hives."

T-Dog and Rick took the first load back while Daryl stayed to make sure the prisoners didn't try anything funny and Angel kept looking for anything that might help. Daryl noticed her hands were shaky as she quickly went through the drawers looking for anything. He backed up to talk to her, "You alright? Wasn't that asshole gettin to you was it?"

"Him, no." She shook her head then braced herself on the counter and let out a breath before turning around to lean on it next to him, "Remember what I said about Fever, blew her legs right off?"

He nodded then realized almost the same thing had just happened to Herschel, his voice was sympathetic, "Angel."

"I did the same thing then that I'm doing now, looking for things to help while he's bleeding out." She crossed her arms and looked down at her feet, "I just wish things would stop reminding me of all the things that have happened."

"Hey now, some memories hurt, I know that for a fact. But that don mean you should forget 'em, or let 'em get the best of ya." He rubbed her back.

She nodded, "Yeah, you're right. I'll keep looking until the others get back for more food then I'll take what I have."

As she walked off when the others got there with towels and a tiny bit of medicine Daryl looked over and saw something that she might like. He yelled after her and she turned catching what he threw at her, she looked at the box of hook nails, they must have been redoing the kitchen, and smiled, "I don't like it when you read my mind."

"I don't like it when you think too much," He gave her a side smile, "But that don't stop ya."

She let out a laugh then turned around, "Asshole."

When they went to go help the prisoners clear out their cell block and two walkers came around they watched as the group ran forward and started beating the walkers up. The four of them just stood there watching and Angel couldn't hold back her laugh, "Gotta wonder how many prison yard fights they won with those moves."

She heard T-Dog and Daryl join her in laughter as they all continued to watch. Daryl spoke up after his laugh, "Probably not many."

When they finished and she and Daryl had to take the two out she looked back at the leader of their group, "Though you knew how to kill a man?"

Daryl let out another laugh. A little while later they ran into another, larger group and by the end of it, two shots had been fired and the largest man in the group had been scratched. The leader hit him in the head with his weapon and kept going while the others watched. Daryl could see Angel getting mad, she didn't like the living being killed and she put her gun to the man's head while his arm was in the air still, "One more hit and you'll be on top of him."

He turned to look at her, "Come on sexy, I'm sure you've seen redneck all covered in blood and liked it."

"The blood of innocents is a very unattractive accessory." She stared him down with eyes as cold as ice.

He stood up and smiled at her and they moved on. When Rick told him to open one door in the laundry room he didn't and they were swarmed. He pushed one of the walkers in to Rick and she doubled behind a shelving and sliced it with her machete. They finished off the last of the walkers and Angel was caught off guard by the leader grabbing her by the arm and wrapping his arm around her and putting a gun to her head. Daryl raised his bow and Rick his gun. Daryl watched as she stood there, not struggling but had only a slight fear in her eyes, "Let her go!"

"Nah man, I stay she sticks with me." He laughed and she felt his hand heading for her chest and she smacked it away, "I've always liked 'em spirited."

Angel could see the fear and rage in Daryls face. Rick spoke as calm as he could manage, "Let her go."

"How about you give us our shit back."

"Isnt gunna happen." Angel spit out at him.

"Oh I think that and so much more is gunna happen." He licked her neck and she cringed. She knew she would get shot if she fought him off so she took a deep breath in closing her eyes. Daryl watched as he thought she was about to tell them to either comply or let her go, but when she opened her eyes they were locked on his and he could see a fire in them, and trust. She gave her head a slight nod and he understood. The second she heard his arrow release she pushed the gun up so if it happened to fire it didn't hit anyone. When the body hit the ground she saw the littlest guy charge for Rick then when he raised his own machete he ran and Rick followed.

Daryl told the two men left to get on their knees then he looked at her, "You alright."

She nodded rubbing her eyes and T-Dog spoke, "Man you done that shit before, haven't you?"

"A lot of things happen in war," She looked at Daryl, "I'm just glad you actually took the shot and that I wasn't shot in the leg that time."

Rick came back and started questioning the last two and one of them was groveling begging them to let them live and Angel knew they weren't going to do any harm. Rick moved back to the other man and they were locked on each other as he told Rick to do what he had to. Angel stepped forward, "They aren't going to do anything else. Tiny was afraid to kill anyone that's why he backed away when the big group came at us, Handlebars over there also stayed in the back, there's barely any blood on his pole and Prideful here isn't gunna try anything, he might have a problem with authority but he was one of the only ones that asked about his family, so he still feels like he has something to live for."

Rick turned and looked at each other, "How can you know for sure?"

"She's observant." Daryl said pulling the knife away from the man's throat.

She laughed, "Finally he realizes it."

"Shut up woman." Daryl said to her with a half-smile.

"Yes, commander." She smiled back.

T-Dog looked between the two of them with a smile, "Man y'all have one fucked up friendship."

"Look at us, do you think it would be normal?" She laughed at him. When they got to the cell block that they were leaving the prisoners at she saw that all the ones in there had been executed. She and Daryl shared a sad look, they had never stood a chance. He paused before leaving the cell block and apologized about their friends and she couldn't help but smile a little. Daryl put his hand on her back and led her back to their cell block. When they got there Sophia ran and wrapped her arms around her waist and they all walked over to where Herschel was and they looked in on him hearing about Lori giving him mouth to mouth and they stayed long enough to see him wake up even if just for a moment.

Sophia said her mom was working on something and Angel said she would come up to their room in a bit to hang out with her once she had cleaned herself off. Daryl followed her to her room and wrapped his arms around her before she could even grab a cloth, "Daryl, I'm fine really."

"Are you sure? He had is hands-" Daryl said taking her face in his hand and looking at her torso not able to finish his statement.

"He's dead, he didn't do anything other than put a gun to my head." She ran her fingers down his cheek, "You were protective of me. Even, dare I say, jealous at first."

"I don share." He forced a smile.

"You won't have to I promise." She smiled giving him a kiss, "And I'll let you kill any man that makes you try, if I don't get to him first."

"Then I guess we're gunna have to start a tab." He smiled tightening his arms around her waist, "I'm already one ahead."

She laughed and leaned up and kissed him gently before heading up to Sophia.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: We lose more people today :( But I have to say Daryl and that baby have to be one of the damn cutest/sexiest/adorable things I've ever seen :D **

Daryl couldn't bring himself to move with Angel still asleep in his arms. He had come to her cell in the middle of the night when he heard her whimpering in her sleep. When he had gently woken her up from her nightmare he could see the fear and pain in her eyes and so he crawled in next to her and held her close as he tried to help her go back to sleep. He smiled as she stirred in his arms, she was so beautiful when she first woke up. Angel turned to face him and noticed the smile on his face, "What?"

"Nothin." He tried to hide his smile as he enjoyed the lazy look in her eye and the sleep that he could still hear in her voice. He pulled her up for a kiss and she sighed into it, "How'd you sleep?"

"Much better with you here." She placed her head on his chest, "And I'll wake up at the same time as you everyday if I get that in the morning."

"I don wanna spoil ya." He picked on her.

"Oh you already do." She nuzzled her noise to his and Daryl gave her a small laugh in agreement. She kissed him and took the time to enjoy the moment of it just being the two of them this early in the morning, as much as she liked him when he was Badass Daryl Dixon, she liked him just as much, if not more when it was just them and he was just her Daryl. She didn't want to move from where they were, just kissing each other but eventually she pulled away, "What are the plans for today?"

"We gotta burn the bodies and start digin for water under the fence." He spoke on her lips.

"Damn, so no time for the guard tower then huh?" She smiled running her hand down his chest.

"Tonight?" She felt his hand run over her ass and she couldn't help but let out a giggle, "What was that? Did you just giggle?"

She bit her lip embarrassed to answer him and to hell if it wasn't one of the sexiest goddamn things he had ever seen. He captured her lips with his and pulled her into him with the hand that was still on her ass and she moaned quietly into his mouth when he ground his hips into hers. Their hands were tangled in each other's hair and he had moved to be on top of her when they heard footsteps echoing though the cell block. Daryl sighed his head falling to her shoulder and she quieted her breath, running her hand through his hair, "Tonight."

"Definitely." He said before giving her a quick kiss and leaving the bunk. When he walked out in the hallway he saw Rick looking at him with confusion as he left Angels cell and Daryl just gave him a nod before going for his crossbow.

Angel rolled out of bed and put on her Army pants since they were the only ones clean at the moment and put her hair up in a ponytail. She walked out and went to find Rick who was already outside looking around the field as to where to park the cars, "Hey Rick."

"Hey there Angel." He looked at her and could see the question on her face, "What's on your mind?"

"I was thinking, the horse could use some exercise and we could use some protein. There aren't many walkers around the fence and while you guys are moving bodies I could go out and try to hunt if you're alright with it."

"I need Daryl here today." Rick turned and looked at her.

"I know, I wasn't saying the both of us, just me." She continued to look up at him and he knew she was right, canned corn wasn't enough for a meal.

"I don't like you going out there alone after what happened in the woods last time."

"I'll have the machete, my bow and my pistol. I'll keep the horse on the access road until I break off the trail, which I'll put an arrow in the ground where I do then I'll mark trees with the machete so I can find my way back or you guys can come find me." She explained, "I'll be back before sundown."

"Alright. Just wait until we have the cars all out of there so you can get the horse through." He said patting her shoulder, "Thanks by the way for offering to go out."

"It's my stomach too." She laughed. She headed inside to get her things together then back out to ready the horse and by then the boys had moved the bus and had two cars inside the main fence. She met them as they were walking back up and Daryl asked if she had seen Glenn, "Guard tower."

His eyes looked annoyed that Glenn and Maggie were up there instead of him and Angel and she gave him a little laugh as he called out to them. When Glenn finally popped his head out and asked what was up her laugh grew as Daryl asked if he was coming. When the boy said he'd be down in a minute Angel looked at Daryl, "I don't think he is anymore."

He laughed then whispered, "Good, more time for us."

She blushed then saw where T-Dog was pointing to the gates up by the entrance of the block, it was Axel and Oscar. They walked up and listened as they pleaded to join them and Rick pulled those that were outside over to the side to talk and decide what they wanted to do, T-Dog didn't want to make them leave but everyone else did. Angel knew they were harmless but she wasn't sure how stable two guys that had been stuck in a single room for ten months would be. She listened to Carol say she didn't really want them to be around her daughter and Daryl followed how he had grown up with guys like them and how he could have been one of them. T-Dog asked if he was with him and Daryl said hell no. T looked at her and she just shook her head, "I'm sorry, but a deals a deal."

After the talk and informing the prisoners their decision she went up to get Fallon, the horse she had kept since the farm and walked it down to the entrance of the facility. Daryl was about to get on his motorcycle when he saw her coming up to him dressed to the t with weapons, "Where do ya think you're goin?"

"Hunting." She said checking the saddle and bridle.

"Hell no you aint, not alone." He walked over to her.

"Daryl I'll be fine. I can take care of myself." She said placing a hand on his arm.

He shook his head at her, and faked anger, "Fine go on and get yourself killed."

"Okay." She smiled at him knowing he wasn't really mad at her, just worried.

"Ang." He stopped her pulling her back by her arm.

"Daryl, I'll be okay, I have more than enough to protect me, the horse wont throw me and make me land on my arrow, and I wont get lost in the woods." She gave him a reassuring smile, then placed her hand on his chest and ran her finger over the exposed skin, "If I'm not back by sundown I give you full permission to put me through the ringer when I do get back."

He smiled getting her hint about their plans for the night, "Just be careful."

"I will." She climbed on the horse as Daryl opened the main gate for her. She moved the horse through and turned around to look at him as the horse slowly walked forward, "Oh and Daryl, can you look out for Carol and Sophia while I'm gone?"

"I aint your damn baby sitter woman!" He called out and laughed when she yelled out a thank you as she kicked the horse when some walkers noticed her there and she was quickly out of their sight and his.

Axel looked at where she had just been, "Seems like one capable little lady. She yours?"

"She aint property, don't belong to no one. Keep your eyes off 'er." Daryl said starting his bike and revved it so he wouldn't hear whatever it was the man was now spouting about his bike.

Angel stayed on the main road for at least a quarter of a mile before breaking off into the woods after shooting an arrow in a tree like she told Rick she would do. She shot down any birds and squirrels she could, hoping to see a deer or something they could get a lot of meat off of, but didn't have much luck. Slicing a tree every eighth of a mile or so she became curious when she hadn't seen one walker yet. While she travelled she couldn't keep a smile from her face thinking of the morning she had with Daryl and the night that was supposed to happen when she returned. She didn't remember when or how he had worked his way into her heart like he had, but she was glad he had.

She reached over and counted the animals she had in her saddle bag and had enough for one per person, but then her mind thought of Lori and knew that she should grab a few extras just in case, plus they had just given away a weeks' worth of food so she thought better safe than sorry. She heard a noise off in the distance and steadied the horse trying to make it as silent as possible, it was a siren of some sort, maybe the prison? Angel turned the horse around and had it go as fast as it could on the uneven ground until she was able to get back to the main road where they could go full speed.

They had made it up to the courtyard and for once in the time he had known her Daryl was glad that Angel wasn't there. He looked around and saw Sophia with Herschel and Beth, but he couldn't see Carol. He had to find her, had to make sure she was okay, he had told Angel that he would, well he hadn't said it but she had asked him to, and he would always do anything she asked of him. By the time they had made it to the generator room the walkers were on top of them and he tried shutting the door but he couldn't get it to latch, he still hadn't found Carol or T-Dog, knowing that they had gone off together, but he wasn't giving up. He pushed on the door with everything he had, he had to survive for Angel, she had told him how much it hurt for her to lose Evan and he wasn't going to be the one to put her through that again. He would lose her if he died right now, he would lose everything.

When he turned the corner after running into Axel and Glenn he saw T-Dogs body being eaten by walkers an Rick shot them as they walked up, and he hoped he wouldn't see Carols there with him, but what he found was worse, her head scarf, she could be anywhere and she was alone and out of ammo, she would die if she wasn't already. Daryl felt his heart stop thinking about how Angel would feel when she got back, how she would look at him for not watching out for her friend.

Angel knew Fallon was getting tired but she couldn't stop despite the fact the sirens had stopped about fifteen minutes before, she had to get back, had to make sure everyone was okay. She knew she was almost there, when she saw the gates she started calling Daryls name for him to open them for her. Daryl heard her calls right after he said that they weren't going to lose the baby and grabbed the keys running to see her keeping the horse moving because of the walkers that were closing in on her. As he ran he saw her shooting the ones that got any closer than three yards with her bow and he raced to get the first gate open, he didn't care that it was still open when he got to the second one and as he opened it she hurried the horse inside it. She was already off the horse by the time he got the gate locked, "I heard sirens, was it from here?"

He nodded but couldn't say anything, he could barely look at her, "Daryl, what happened, are you okay?"

She put her hand on his face and he wanted to push it away, he knew she would take it away when she found out what happened, his voice was quiet, "The prisoner that Rick chased away cut open the fence and led walkers right to us…Lori…she had the baby…but she-she dint make it. T-Dog didn't either."

He watched as her hand went to her mouth and her eyes began to glossen. The hand that had been on his face had gone to his chest and he felt her grip tighten Daryl knew she could see it on his face, her throat was tight and he could tell she was trying not to cry, "What aren't you telling me?"

He held up Carols scarf and her eyes grew wide knowing what that meant. She looked back up at him quickly, "Sophia?"

"She's alive…I don know if it's hit her yet…" He spoke softly and was expecting anger at what he had done, well hadn't done, or for her to walk away from him to leave him there knowing that he had disappointed her, but instead she threw herself at his chest and held on to his shirt letting a sob out. He was shocked that she wasn't mad at him, perhaps that would come later, but his instinct took over as he wrapped his arms around her tightly.

After a moment she stepped back and wiped her eyes, regaining her composure before looking up at him, "The baby's okay?"

"Yeah, but she needs food." He said and was surprised when she took his arm as she started walking back up to where the others were, bringing him with her. When they got up to the rest of the group Daryl said he was going on a run for baby food and Maggie and Glenn said that they would go. He looked at Angel who now had Sophia in her arms. She put the girl down really quick signaling to Beth and walked over to him.

"I'll stay, keep an eye on things, Sophia shouldn't be alone right now and neither should Carl." She spoke to him quietly as she put her hand on his chest again, "You be careful out there okay?"

He nodded and turned to walk away but she followed him to the cars with Maggie and Glenn talking to them as she went, "Has everything been resecured?"

"Yeah, as best as we could with as little time as we had." Glenn said as they bounded down the hill.

"I'll keep everyone in the cell block and keep the doors locked until you get back just in case." She said and soon they began talking about where they could get baby stuff. After it was decided that Glenn needed to stay behind because they would need to take the bike she looked at him, "You take first watch on the gate for them to get back I'll take the next, Ricks out of the game for a little bit it seems."

Glenn nodded and gave Maggie a kiss as she walked over to Daryl who was already on the bike. He was expecting her to say something to him about losing Carol but she didn't, she took his face in her hand again and made her look at him, "You come back, I'm not losing anyone else today, least of all you."

She pressed her lips to his and he wasn't sure what he was more shocked about, that she was doing this in front of people, or that she was kissing him after losing Carol. She parted her lips as Maggie walked over to them and both her and Glenn wore surprised looks. Angel whispered on his lips, "Come back."

"I will." He said as she backed away from the bike and Glenn ran to the gates as she headed back up to the group.

She led them back inside and noticed the bodies in the cell block. She asked Axel to help her get rid of them and then she moved on to where Sophia was. The girl was sitting on the stairs and she came over to sit down next to her.

"How can we be sure she's dead?" Sophia looked at her.

"We cant, I promise once Daryl and Maggie get back I'll go looking for her, I just have to make sure that we're protected until then." Angel looked at the girl.

"Mom said that you helped her be strong, I know that she's alive. For us." Sophia took her hand.

"I'm sure she is girlie, I'm know she is." Angel bent over giving her a kiss on the head. She took the scarf that Daryl had given her when she had gotten back, "Here take this, I think you should hold onto it for her."

Sophia nodded her head then went over to Beth and Carl to see the baby. Angel stood up and was able to see out the window at where Glenn was already digging graves for the lost. Herschel came over to her as she reached the bottom of the stairs, "I would like to talk to you and Glenn."

"Yeah, he's outside digging graves." She said and motioned for them to go out there. She looked over at Beth, "Hey Beth, keep them inside the cell block kay?"

The girl nodded and the two walked outside and to the fence where they could see Glenn. He looked up and saw them, when he got to where they were he looked at them, "Rick?"

"Still inside." Herschel said.

"I shouldn't have gone. I should have stayed here." Angel leaned on the fence.

"Hey, no one could have known that this was going to happen." Herschel looked at her then back to the graves, "All of this because of one asshole."

Glen explained how he and T-Dog met and it made Angel smile, and when Glenn said he wished they had shot the prisoners on sight she looked at him, "That's not what T-Dog would have wanted. He wanted us to let those two into our group remember? I think when Daryl and Maggie get back, and Rick if he is mentally here, we should seriously discuss what we should do with them."

"I'll go look for Rick." Glenn said and Herschel said he would start back to look in on the girls and Carl. Angel and Glenn walked down the fence together. He looked at her, "I can only imagine what he's going through. If I lost Maggie…"

"It's going to take him a while. When you find him be careful. He won't be himself, you never are when you lose someone you love. When I lost Evan I remember running head first into the line of fire, I didn't care if I died. I think I just wanted to feel something other than the pain of losing him, even if it was the pain of a bullet. I picked fights with people all the time, my brother was the only one that I actually fist fought with and that's because he knew I needed it." She paused, "When you lose someone you love, you lose yourself for a time."

"Speaking of…You and Daryl huh?" He gave her a side smile, "Can't say I didn't see that coming."

She laughed, "Well don't feel too proud of yourself, we've been together since the farm and having sex longer than that."

"No way! That's how me and Maggie started!" He laughed with her.

"There's a difference, she called it love after what a week? Daryl and I didn't even call it a relationship until almost three months later." She smiled at him as they finally made it to where there wasn't a fence in between them.

Glenn wrapped his arms around her, "I'm happy for you. After everything we've all gone through you more than deserve to be happy."

"Thanks." She hugged him back for a moment then they both went on their separate ways.

It had been an hour and Herschel could see Angel getting restless, "Why don't you go and keep watch with Glenn, I can keep an eye on this lot."

She gave him a thankful nod and walked out to the guard tower Glenn was on and climbed up there with him, "It'll be night fall soon."

"I know, I hate not being out there with Maggie." He looked at her.

"Same with Daryl." She gave him a worried smile.

He took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze, he laughed, "Medal of Honor recipient and here you are worrying about Daryl Dixon, toughest son of a bitch out there."

"Yeah well, shit happens." She laughed back at him.

"You know if you two ever had a kid it would probably take over the world." He gave her a grin.

"Oh god, can we not talk about kids." She groaned, "No epidurals…the tearing…god no I'm not even going to think about that right now."

He laughed as he watched her in fake pain as she grabbed her stomach and made a freaked out noise, "Come on how much worse could it be than getting shot?"

"Think about how big a vagina is…then think about how big that baby in there's head is…do the math on that." Her voice was high-pitched.

"But you never said you wouldn't want to have a kid with Daryl." He smiled at her.

"Do you want to have one with Maggie?" She returned his look.

"Maybe…someday. You're avoiding what I said." He pointed at her.

She looked back towards the path, "I mean I've always wanted kids and I've never seen Daryl around any but I think he would be a good dad…but I've always wanted to make sure that I was ready and that I could give them everything they need. I don't know that I could do that in this new world."

"I understand." He nodded and they stood there waiting for the bike to come back and eventually it did, but she knew at least thirty minutes had passed with how dark it had gotten. They ran down the stairs and up to the cell block, hoping that they had found something.

When Angel walked into the room she saw Daryl already holding the little girl and she tried to fight the smile that was trying to break through her face. She had to put her hand over her mouth as she watched him take the bottle from Beth and give it to the baby. Her conversation with Glenn still fresh in her mind and she knew looking at him right then and there that he would be an amazing father.

Daryl held the baby and as it took the bottle he couldn't stop his heart from fluttering, or stop his eyes from finding Angel in the room and he saw the look on her face and could almost tell the exact things that she was thinking. Glenn and Maggie noticed the look and Glenn nudged Angels arm as the two looked at her with smiles and she just returned a small one and leaned over to Glenn and whispered, "One smart ass comment and I'll drop you."

He gave her a quiet laugh then wrapped his arms around Maggie as Daryl asked if she had a name yet. Carl said no and started listing off names, all of which happened to be women that they had lost over the course of time. Daryl called her little ass kicker and everyone laughed, "I like that name."

"We are not calling her little ass kicker just yet." Angel said with a laugh.

He looked up at her and despite the look they were sharing he still managed a smart ass remark, "Oh sorry, is that title taken?"

"Well, I'm far from little, so no." She laughed at him. She had to lean on the table to keep herself from walking over and putting her arms around him and the baby as he talked to the little person in his arms. He fed the baby until it fell asleep in his arms and he looked up at her a little unsure what to do. She smiled and walked up to him as Beth and Maggie looked for something to let her sleep in through the night.

Angel took the child from his arms and she stirred a little and he watched as he shushed her quietly and the baby went back to sleep. She took the hand that wasn't holding the baby and put it on his chest, "Good job out there."

He looked from her to the baby in her arms and the image of her holding a baby made his heart stop and he wished that maybe one day she would be holding their baby. Beth said that she had found something and Angel walked over to her and saw it was a card board box that was a little ragged, but the girl wasn't going to move much so it would be fine for now. Daryl watched as she hummed while setting the baby down and noticed it didn't stir once. She left Beth with the baby and walked over to him, "Take a walk?"

He nodded and remembered Carol, thinking that it's what she wanted to talk about. When they got outside she wrapped her arms around his waist and put her head on his chest, "I should never have left today, if I had stayed then T-Dog or Lori or…"

Her voice cracked unable to say Carols name and he couldn't stop the words, "I'm sorry. You asked me to keep an eye on her and Sophia and I didn't."

"Daryl it's not your fault. You weren't anywhere near them when it happened, please don't blame yourself, if you do then it's my fault that you feel guilty and I never want you to feel that."

"It aint your fault." He lifted her chin to look at him, "Nothins your fault."

She wrapped her arms tighter around his body, "Sophia wants me to look for her, so she can know. And I want to too."

He nodded, "I understand. I'll take ya to where I found her scarf once we've made sure everythins secure."

She leaned up and kissed him and he held her close, he might have lost her today if she hadn't gone out hunting. When she pulled back she kept her mouth close to his, "You holding that baby…was very attractive."

"Yeah, same with you. How'd you know how to keep her asleep?" He asked.

"A lot of baby cousins." She smiled at him.

He remembered something, "How much of that birth control you have left?"

"A little more than two months, I left with a year's supply." She looked down.

"Maybe…maybe we see how things go…how things are here…maybe when you're out you don't take it anymore…" He muttered.

She blushed and bit her lip looking up at him, "Are you saying you wanna get me pregnant?"

"No." He said squinting his eyes at her playfully, "I'm sayin that maybe I'll wanna have a baby with ya…have a family."

"See how things are…then yeah maybe." She smiled at him before kissing him again. The kiss became heated as the tension and emotion from the day poured out of them and she said through kisses, "Are we still gunna do the tower tonight?"

"Only if you want to." He pressed his forehead to hers.

"Is it bad that with the day we've had, that yeah I want to?" She looked at him with a sad look on her face and he ran his hand up her back trying to comfort her.

"No, it aint. But we aint gotta if you feel bad about doin it." He spoke and he felt her body move from his but she kept her hand in his as she led him to their guard tower, since it was farther off than Maggie and Glenns.

"I don't want to miss any moment with you Daryl." She whispered through a tight throat when he shut the door of the tower behind him. He walked to her and cupped her face wiping the tear that streaked down her cheek.

"You won't." He looked into her eyes and wanted to say the words that he felt, but he hadn't said them to anyone since his mom had died, not even to Merle. He tried his best to choke them out, "Angel I…I…"

He couldn't do it and he hated himself for it. She pressed a hand to his chest, over his heart, "I know Daryl. And I-"

He cut her off with his mouth. While he wanted to hear those words from her there was no way he was going to make her say it first. She returned the kiss knowing she would have all the time in the world to tell him later, but at the moment, they were alone, together, and alive, and that's what she wanted to hold onto.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Yay! Drama with Merle begins! Let me know what ya'll think of this one!**

Angel could tell Rick was out of it when they saw him during breakfast. She wondered if that's what she had looked like when her mind couldn't cope with what had happened to her. He asked what the plans were and Maggie and Glenn said they were going on a run and Daryl said that the others were going to check and make sure the lower levels were cleared. When they got ready to go Angel took a look at Carl, "Carl, why don't you come with us? Put that hat to use?"

He gave her as much of an excited smile as he could but then added, "I don't know how my dad would feel about it."

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him." She gave him a wink and she could see a slightly bigger smile on his face. Angel turned to Sophia, "I'll keep an eye out for any signs of your mom while we're gone okay?"

The girl nodded and the three of them plus Oscar went searching for walkers. Angel watched how Daryl did with Carl there and noticed him soften for the boy, like he did with her. She listened as he talked about his mom and her dying in a fire when he was a kid and it broke her heart, she didn't know what she'd have done without her mom that young. Daryl never talked about his family much, even with her, he always asked her about her family. Maybe he was trying to think of what it would have been like to grow up like she had, they hadn't been rich that's for sure, but money never really was an issue. To her though she had grown up with a family that loved each other despite how different they could all be at times and she thought that perhaps that's why Daryl listened to her stories, to know what it would have been like to have a decent family growing up.

She knew that Merle had been in and out of juvie and that when he was home he tried to raise Daryl, but not the right way. And one night she ran a hand over a scar on his chest and he quietly said it had been his dad, she never asked but she assumed most of the others were from him too. Angel couldn't help but be glad that the man was dead even though he was Daryls dad.

They walked on and Oscar made a happy noise as he walked into a cell and they looked back at him as he held up slippers. Daryl looked at him, "The hell you need slippers for?"

"You know the end of the day, relaxin'." He shrugged his shoulders.

"It's the little things that make us happiest." Angel smiled from him and met Daryls eyes as he watched her run her finger around the chain her tags were on. A walker came up behind them and they quickly dispatched then they both noticed something in its chin.

Daryl leaned down and pulled the handle of the knife out, "It's Carols knife."

Angel put her hand on his back, she could see how upset he still was and she knew he still felt bad for losing her when Angel had asked him not to. She shouldn't have asked him, it wasn't fair that he was going through this, it made her feel like shit. She leaned down next to him, "Come on, we should head back, it'll be dinner time soon."

"You…you go on a head, I'll be there in a bit." He didn't even look at her and she felt her heart break a little, she had done this to him. She knew he hated showing emotion even more than she did so she nodded kissing him on the head.

"Let me know if you need anything." She whispered before leading Carl and Oscar back to the others.

Daryl slowly walked behind them after checking the other cells, he wasn't going to go back with just her knife and let Angel have to tell Sophia they didn't find anything. Eventually after going around in circles he sat down on the floor. He felt horrible, Angel didn't deserve someone like him, someone who lets her friends disappear and die. That damn door kept moving and with every sound it made it made him more agitated, at the world, at himself, at Angel. He slammed the knife into the wall, it wasn't her fault, he shouldn't be blaming her, it was his fault. He got up to walk away and the door made one more noise and he finally was done with it. He moved the body in front of it and flung the door open ready to kill the walker inside, but froze when a weak Carol turned at looked at him.

He quickly picked her up and carried her back to the cell block as she whispered Sophia's name, Daryl spoke softly, "She's fine, Angels taken good care of her."

"Of course she has. She'd be a wonderful mom." Carol choked out through a dry throat. He nodded in agreement as he carried her into the cell block.

Angel was in Sophias cell with her telling her what they had found but it didn't make the girl seem anymore happy. She didn't know what to do, or what to tell her. Angel knew that the likely hood of them finding her after anymore time was slim, the prison was only so big and a person could only go so long without food. She heard someone walking in the main room and figured it was Daryl finally catching up to her, and she was proven correct when she heard him call out Sophias name. Wait, why was he calling Sophias name? Angel shut her eyes tight as the girl walked out of the room thinking Daryl had found the girls mothers body.

She heard Sophia yell out "Mommy" followed by a voice saying "Sophia my baby." It was Carol. Angel raced out of the cell and saw the two embracing with Daryl behind them with a soft smile on his face. She ran up and hugged him then hugged Carol and helped her to the cell handing her some water. She decided to let the two have a moment to themselves and walked back out to where a Daryl was waiting for her, she walked up to him and grabbed him by the collar pulling his mouth down to hers. She kissed him long and hard and Daryl was at her mercy with this kiss. Angel pulled back and put her hand on his cheek, "You are the best goddam man in the world."

He smiled at her but they were distracted by a noise and Rick ordering people in the common room. They came out and saw Rick laying down a girl carrying a sword. She reached for it when he asked her name and he kicked it away. Daryl got their attention and led them to the cell where Carol was and everyone welcomed her back and Angel rested her hand on Daryl's shoulder.

They went back out to where the new girl was and they all started asking her questions. She explained about Glenn and Maggie being taken and a place called Woodbury. Angel didn't like the sound of this place, or how the woman talked about it. Rick told Herschel to take a look at her leg and waved her and Daryl back in the cells. They all decided that they were going to go and get the two back but it was never specifically stated who would be going but they all went to pack up the car.

She walked over to Daryl and pulled him to the side, "I think I should stay."

"What? But you were a soldier, this is what you were great at." He placed his hand on her arm and then followed her gaze to Carl and Rick talking.

"I know, and I want to go I really do, but I think someone who can handle a gun should stay. Carls still a kid and with what he just went through…" She looked down at her boots.

"Whatever you want." Daryl said kissing her forehead, "You be safe and so will I."

"Here take this." She said and handed him her AR-15.

"Your gun?" He asked knowing how much it meant to her.

"It's not my exact one but it's close enough, kept my ass out of bigger fires than the one you're going to walk into." She smiled as he tested the feel of it in his hands.

"I like it." He gave her a small grin, "Might have to steal this from you afterwards."

"Only if you come back to me." She said placing a light kiss on his lips.

"I always do." He gave her a cocky smile and she gave him a shove as he made his way over to the car.

When she turned around to head back inside she saw smiles from Carol and Sophia, Angel looked at the little girl and gave her a nudge, "Shut up you."

She stayed inside helping Carol and the baby as night fell, she laughed when Axel tried hitting on Carol after calling her a lesbian then moved outside sitting in the field, staring at the road, waiting for the sound of a car. She cursed herself, she should have gone with them, nothing had happened at the prison since they'd left but she had rather been safe than sorry, but now she was getting worried.

She was ripping up patches of grass praying that Daryl would return to her when she heard Beth yelling at her from the courtyard, "Angel, there are screams coming from inside!"

Angel stood up and bolted to the girl, when she got inside Carl was ready to leave and she could hear the screaming, she grabbed her machete, her pistol already on her hip and looked at the boy, "Lets go."

He nodded and they ran off into the tombs. They followed the screams in and found a group of five people in one of the generator rooms, one looked like they had been bit. Her and Carl took out the remaining walkers and Carl yelled for them to follow them. They started to move and she looked at Carl, "You lead. I'll take rear."

She took out a remaining walker and they made their way back to the common room. The woman who had been bit was already gone, now it was a waiting game. Carl said he would end it but when they didn't want him to Angel put her hand on the boy's shoulder and shook her head. He went to argue but one of the men said they take care of their own and then they both nodded at him and Angel signaled for him to go lock the cell block.

* * *

Daryl had been grabbed and Angels gun had been ripped from his hands as a bag was placed over his head, other than his memories that was all he had had of her on this trip. He was being led somewhere and could hear talking out in the distance, about terrorists, and he hated himself for what he was about to do to Angel. He hadn't given up but the chances of him making it back to her were slim, even with Rick maybe coming back for him. He fought against his restrains as much as he could as he was led closer to the voice and when the bag came off of his head he was face to face with his brother. At first he was glad to see him, then he remembered what he had done to Angel. Left her to die and Daryls will to survive somehow grew three times if only to kick his brothers ass to hell and back.

He listened as the governor said that they would fight to the death and Merle started yelling to the crowd. Daryl rolled his eyes, Merle was good at big talk and getting people on his side but Daryl had something Merle didn't, a reason to survive, someone to get back to. He didn't have much of a chance when Merle surprised him then kicked him in the stomach. God he was tired it had been a long day and him and Angel didn't get much sleep the night before. He was glad she wasn't there, or with Rick, she would come charging in and try to take the world on herself for him. With that thought he knew he had to fight the world for her and was able to get a punch back in at Merle. They scuffled to the ground and had their hands around the others necks and Daryl said that Merle was stupid for believing the governor would let him go after this and that when Merle said that they were both going to get out of this and Daryl knew he had a plan. They turned and fought the walkers off, Daryl thinking of Angel with every hit.

When the smoke bombs went off after the guns they got people out of their way and made it over to Rick. Daryl saw two guys in their way one with his crossbow and one with Angels gun. He knocked the one with his bow out and swiped it across the head of the other guy and grabbed her gun as he fell.

They made their way through the trees back to the car and weapons were drawn at the sight of Merle. Rick knocked him out and they went over to talk about what they were going to do about him. Glenn, Rick, and Maggie didn't want him to go back with them but Daryl did. He hated having to choose between the two but Merle was his brother, his family, he thought he had lost him once, he didn't want to again, despite his faults. He told them that and Glenn just looked at him, "Really? What the hell do you want me to go back and tell Angel?"

"She'll understand. If it were her brother she'd do the same thing." Daryl said quietly trying not to let them see his heart break.

"Her brother didn't try to kill three of us." Glenn's words were harsh, "If you don't go back you know what this will do to her."

"She's tough." Daryl said trying to convince himself, "She'll survive, she always has. I already left him once, I can't do it again."

Glenn yelled, "You told her you'd be back!"

Daryl couldn't look at him knowing that the boy was right so instead he walked past him and to the car. Rick tried to convince him to stay, that they were going to need the man power with the possible war brewing. Daryl repeated his statement then looked at the gun on the car as he grabbed his bag. He took off his over leather over coat that had a pair of wings on it and wrapped the gun up in it and handed them to Rick, "Give these to Angel for me. Take care of that family of yours."

Rick took the bundle from him and watched as he walked off to Merle, he put the jacket and gun in the car and angrily got in.

* * *

Angel walked through the cell heading to the tower to take watch, past the group they had found in the tombs and Herschel stopped her, "You need to eat something, its been close to a day, and even longer since you slept."

"It's my turn to take watch." She looked at him with sad eyes, she knew she should have gone with them, she couldn't stand just sitting and waiting any longer, she looked at him, "The only soldier in the group and I decide to stay and baby sit."

"War isn't an easy thing to go back to when you've been away from it for a while." Herschel gave her a smile and she weakly returned it.

She walked out to where Carol was and told her she should go get something to eat and then looked out at the road. Angel felt a hand on her back and heard Carols soft voice, "I'm sure they'll be back soon."

Angel just nodded but didn't move her eyes. She heard Carol and Carl walk back up to the cell blocks and she stood and waited. She didn't know how long she had stood there but she had a pretty good sheet of sweat on her when she finally heard tires on the dirt road. She smiled and unlocked the gate then quickly closed it behind them as Rick got out of the car and went to the trunk, telling Maggie to pull it around. Angel looked in the windows and saw four bodies, but none of them were Daryls.

Her throat tightened and her heart stopped as Rick walked up to her with a bundle in his hands, she looked from it to his face, "Daryl?"

"He's alive. We ran into Merle and Daryl decided to go with him since none of us wanted his brother here." Rick spoke with a hand on her shoulder, "He wanted you to have these."

She took the bundle from him and fought as hard as she could not to cry. She looked down in her arms and choked out, "At least he gave me my gun back."

She started walking back up to the courtyard with Rick behind her and she felt her legs give out. He had left her, chosen Merle over her. The man was family and she understood how much family meant…but this hurt just as much as losing Evan. Angel clutched the gun and jacket to her chest and felt Rick put his arms around her.

Glenn looked down from the car and saw Angel on the ground in Ricks arms and muttered, "Doesn't matter if she understands, he said he'd be back."

Angel pulled away from Rick and wiped her eyes shaking herself off for a moment then looked at him, "By the way, we have a situation in the common room."

"I'll talk to Herschel about it." He said with a hand on her back, "You…you go get some rest, I'm sure you've been up all night."

She gave him a weak smile and nodded and walked right past the others and inside to her cell. She leaned her gun against the wall and looked at the vest that Daryl had given her, when they were alone and he wore this he would say that she was his Angel and he had her wings. Her lip quivered when she realized what it meant. He had given her her wings, he had set her free. She let out as quiet of a sob as she could manage and slipped the vest on. It smelled like him, nature, motor oil, and a little tinge of something else that was just Daryl. Every time she had commented on it he would just wave her off saying it was sweat, or how a real man smelled, but she knew when men and sweat smelled like, she had bunked in the same room as five before, and this wasn't the same as how he smelled.

Angel laid down in her bed and curled up into a ball pulling the covers to her shoulder and felt something underneath her by her knees. She pulled it up and it was the poncho she had jokingly given him that he had always worn on his motorcycle. It smelled like him too, so she pulled it up by her face and cuddled with the fabric as much as she could…but it just wasn't Daryl.

She couldn't sleep so she just laid there in her bunk and could hear the conversation about Daryl between Carol and Beth. Her name was brought up by Beth and she said how she was mad at Daryl for hurting Angel, and wondered how he could have done that to her. She smiled at Carols words, about Daryl having a code because she knew it was true, he did have a code and she loved that he stuck to it. Despite her smile she could feel the cold seeping into her body. She was going numb again, a feeling that she hated, but knew all too well, last time it had taken her two years to thaw out, but she knew she wouldn't have that much time now.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Well this chapter shows both sides of Daryl, and a little bit of both sides of Angel too. Let me know what y'all think!**

Daryl leaned on a tree and listened to Merle say that the group back at the prison would be dead soon if they werent already so he should stop trying to lead them back there. Daryl didn't care where they went, he felt dead inside, he lied to her, he left her, he knew she hated him. As much as he wanted to go back he couldn't, he wouldn't be able to face her after what he'd done. He had known as soon as Rick drove the car away he should have gone back to her.

As they walked through the woods Merle was beginning to get on his last nerve, making bets and talking about coons getting it on. Daryl knew what a baby crying sounded like, it made his heart hurt to hear that noise, specially thinking about him and Angel talking about having one…He shook his head as they entered a clearing and saw people stuck on a bridge killing walkers. Daryl took off running to the group and ignored Merles comments behind him. He had never realized just how much of a dick hole his brother was until now, he had known he was one but damn he was an even bigger one now.

Killing those walkers was just what he needed to help his anger and frustration at the situation he had put himself in. But all of it came back when Merle started digging through the peoples car for things. He was done, he was over being his brothers little puppy. He knew he was worth so much more than his shit and it's about time Merle knew it too. He pointed his bow at his brother and told him to get out of the car and told the people to get in it and go. Once they had driven off he stormed away from his brother. Daryl knew the only reason he had been able to do that was because of _her_, and it pissed him off that he had made the wrong choice.

His patience was wearing thin as Merle kept going off about how those people owed him and when the group was brought into it Daryl snapped, "I went back for you! _You_ cut off your hand! You did it the second you left Angel locked in a store that you brought walkers to!"

Merle went on to ask if he had ever told Angel and Rick that they were planning on robbing the camp and Daryl spat that it didn't happen. They yelled back and forth before Daryl had had enough and began to walk away before Merle grabbed his collar ripping his shirt. He saw the marks on his brothers back and claimed he didn't know, but Daryl knew he did, and he wanted to go back to the person that didn't care if he had them, so he stood up and started walking back to the prison and Merle called after him, "I cant go with you, they wont let me, and Angel, she'll kill me."

"No she wont. She'll beat the shit out of you but she wont kill you outta respect for me." Daryl turned to look at him, "And she should get to kill you after you left her to die all because she wouldn't have sex with you."

"That's what she told you?" Merles voice got quiet, remembering that he had said something completely different to her.

"Yeah it is. Why what do you say happened?" Daryl glared at him.

"Nothin. She was a fuckin prude bitch anyways." Merle regained his yell.

"Don't you fuckin talk about her like that!" Daryl got in his face.

"Oh my, you got your panties in a wad for her don't you?" Merle had a smile on.

Daryls voice got louder, "It was more than that! Her and I we been together for over eight months now! So don't you fuckin say shit about her! She's the best goddam thing that ever happened to me!"

"You really think she's gunna take you back after choosing me over her?" Merle said with a cocky smile.

"I'd rather try to not get her back then be stuck out here with you!" Daryl yelled at him starting to walk away he turned back one last time, "You know I might be the one that's walkin away, but you're the one that's leavin' again."

* * *

Angel leaned on the wall watching Carl and Glenn talk about where breaches might be in the jail, she didn't say anything, she was silent with her arms wrapped around her waist, holding his vest tightly around her body. She listened as Glenn said that they should end it now, go back and kill him, Carol said they weren't assassins and Glenn looked at Angel, knowing she could get the job done then turned to Michonne saying she could get Angel in there. The group looked at her waiting for her to object but she didn't care, she would do what they asked of her once they decided, so she continued to stand there. Honestly she knew the plan would end up with them dead so it wasn't a good plan, but she would still do it.

When Glenn stormed off Herschel pulled her to the side, "Angel are you all right? You haven't spoken a word since they got back."

She just nodded her head and he sighed, "I can imagine what you're going through, but you have to know that we're all here for you. And I hate asking but I need you to be there for Glenn, I'm sure you went through some pretty tough things during the war and maybe you can help him get passed what happened."

She looked up and met his eyes and saw that he was really worried about the boy so she shook her head again and walked off after Glenn. He must have known why she was coming because he locked the door behind him and walked off. It was okay though, she had all day. He avoided her as long as he could until she finally saw him getting into an argument with Herschel on the courtyard, this was her chance. She stormed up to him before he could walk away, "Glenn!"

He turned to look at her, "I was beginning to think you'd lost your vocal cords."

"I haven't and I have something to say. You're on a war path I understand that and I know what you're feeling-" She was cut off.

"How the hell could you possibly know how I'm feeling?" Glenn yelled at her, shoving her away.

She shoved him back and pinned him against the truck, Herschel could only watch, "Because that Medal of Honor you like to bring up, yeah I got that for getting shot in the leg then taken prisoner by terrorists for fifteen days! I was tortured for fifteen days! I know what you're going through, more than you want to admit and I know you aren't in your right mind right now and it is going to get you killed, or worse, this isn't the way for you to deal with it, by pushing everyone away."

"I remember what you said about losing someone you love, you aren't in the right mind to try to tell me what to do." He spit getting in her face, he shoved her off of him and got in the truck and drove off before she could say anything else.

"Was that true?" Herschel asked and she turned around to look at him.

"Every word." She secured her gun over her shoulder then looked around at the chores everyone was doing, "I've planted the seed, give it just a little time and he'll either come around or ask someone to help him come around. But until then I think I'm going to set up gun posts in vantage spots for the time being while we're here."

Herschel nodded at her and watched as she walked away, he called after her, "Angel, it's nice to hear your voice."

She just waved in the air at him not even looking back as she went to grab a few guns. She had placed one on each of the closer guard towers and was bringing one down to the bus where Michonne was, "You know how to work one of these?"

The woman nodded and she simply replied, "Good. It stays by the bus though just in case."

As if on cue a shot was fired and she looked at the courtyard and Axel had gone down. The sound of constant gunfire made her remember war, made her smile. She ran to the other side of the bus and fired off shots. She took down one of the men they had managed to get onto a guard tower without them knowing and remembered how much she had missed this. The shots deafened her ears and the heat of the gun seemed to warm her soul a little, her smile was as wide as it could get. When the shots stopped she listened, another car was coming. She scooted over to Michonne, "Watch yourself something's coming."

"And it isn't going to be good." Michonne looked at her and they could see that they both had a similar look of enjoyment on their faces. It wasn't the killing they liked, but the fight, and the rush it gave them.

Angel shoved her out of the way when she heard the gates breaking and it was quickly followed by a van entering the field, they shared a look, knowing that there was one of two things in that van, more gunmen, or walkers. The gate went down and walkers all but ran out. Angel started firing on them and as the driver of the van went by he shot at the two of them and she nailed him in the leg but slammed her shoulder into the ground dodging his bullets.

She ran to Herschel while calling after the horse, since the shooting had ended she was taking out walkers on her way. Michonne was right behind her from the sounds of it and Angel figured they should save ammo and she started slicing up the heads like the new girl did. They made it to the Herschel and Glenn had met them there with the truck. She heard the old man scream out her name and she looked where he was pointing and saw that her arm was dripping with blood, "I'm fine! Get in the truck!"

She hopped on the horse that had come to her and began using her gun to fire as they went back up to the courtyard. They looked at the field they had cleared and it was now full of walkers. The adrenaline was wearing off and her arm was beginning to throb and Herschel could tell, "Come on we need to get you inside and get that looked at."

"We're you bit?" Carol asked worried.

"No, none of them got close enough. Probably a bullet." She shrugged and followed Herschel inside.

"_Probably a bullet_. Oh yeah, no big deal." Maggie said sarcastically, "Man, Daryl must have done a number on her, either that or the Army makes you numb."

"Both!" Angel yelled back having heard the girl before the door shut. She followed Herschel to the table and she sat down next to him. He began cleaning the blood from her arm then the wound.

"The bullets still in there." He looked up at her.

"Just get it out and stitch me up." She said then saw the concern on his face, "You know what I've been through Herschel, I can handle it."

He sighed then went in for the bullet. He knew she had done something like this before because despite her scream of pain she never tensed her arm once while he was in there.

Daryl hopped out of the truck and heard a scream, "What was that? Where's Angel?"

"That was probably her. She got shot." Glenn almost spat at him but his face softened when he saw Daryl running for the common room.

Daryl busted through the door and saw her sitting with Herschel as he dropped the bullet on the table with a clink, the rest of the group filed in after him, wanting to see what happened. Daryls voice was soft, and almost scared, "Angel?"

Her head flew up at the noise, she would know his voice anywhere, she almost whispered, "You came back."

He nodded but couldn't look her in the eye. He heard her stand and walk over to him, "Why?"

"Ya even gotta ask." Daryl looked up at her with hopeful eyes and her heart warmed, her whole body did. Despite the pain in her arm she wrapped them both around his neck and kissed him and he held her tight as he kissed her back.

"Well I'll be damned." Merle said leaning on the wall, "You wasn't lyin'."

Angel broke away from Daryl and her eyes fixed on Merle, the rage in the pit of her stomach was too much to be handled and she leaped for him, getting grabbed by Rick. Merle walked up to her, "Still kickin since that supply run, huh?"

His face was close enough for her to head but him and the force was enough for Rick to lose his grip on her. She lunged forward and knocked him to the ground, she hit him once, "That's for Maggie." She hit him two more times, "And Glenn," Another time, "Daryl." She picked him up by the collar of his shirt and the blood was running down his face and he was too disoriented to hit her back, "And this, this is for me." She slammed his head down on the cement, not enough to kill or knock him out, but enough to hurt like a bitch. She got off of him and looked at Rick, "I'm done now."

"Told ya she wouldn't kill ya bro." Daryl smiled at him and Merle held his hand out to him for help up but Daryl shook his head and followed Angel back to the table to sit with her while she got stitches. He noticed her newest piece of clothing, "You're wearin my vest."

"No, I'm wearing my vest, you gave it to me." She smiled at him, "You don't get it back."

He couldn't help but smile at her and he pulled her in as close as he could without disturbing Herschels work on her arm and held her while he finished his needlework. Rick told everyone to get some rest and that they would talk about what to do the next morning.

Angel went back outside and sat on a table top lighting a cigarette. Daryl followed her out, "I thought you were outta those?"

"Nope, saving this pack for a rainy day." She smiled at him and he reached for the pack to grab one but she snatched it away from him, "Your punishment."

"So you are mad at me." He looked down at the ground.

"No, I was upset and hurt, but I wasn't mad. I understood." She placed a hand on his chest and used the fabric of his shirt to pull him closer.

"Are you mad now?" He looked in her eyes as he placed a hand on her thigh.

"No, I can't be mad at you for choosing family Daryl. It probably would have been my choice to if I had been made to choose." Her hand moved up to his face, she could feel the muscles in his cheeks tensing into a smile.

"So no makeup sex?" He asked.

"Well," She pulled him all the way to her so that he was all the way in between her thighs, "We can always have you make it up to me sex."

He smiled and gave a quiet laugh as he wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her up to meet his lips, "I think I can manage that."

She snuffed out her cigarette so it wouldn't waste as she ran her finger through his hair and she held him to her. She had missed him a lot and she never wanted to let him go again. When they finally pulled back for air, they didn't separate much, he could still feel her breath on his chin, "Next time, I go where ever you go on a mission. No more of me missing the action."

"Okay." He smiled then his face hardened, "I'm sorry. For going with Merle, specially after what he did to you." This reminded him, "When I brought it up to Merle he seemed surprised that you said he left you there because you wouldn't have sex with him. What really happened?"

She sighed, she couldn't tell him the truth, that his brother had wanted her out of the picture to keep him under his influence. As much as she disliked the man, he was Daryls family and she would never make him look at his brother that way, "He…he let it slip about you guys robbing the camp then he figured he needed to get rid of me."

"You knew?" Daryls voice cracked.

"Yeah." She ran her fingers over his cheek, "But you didn't, that's what matters. It's the things you do that I care about, not the things that you don't, even if you plan to."

He recaptured her mouth and kissed her feverishly, it was like no matter what he did, she saw him for an amazing person that he knew he wasn't, and every day it made him fall for her even more. He knew that she was his one chance, the only chance he would ever get, Daryl only separated their mouths, "I love you."

"I love you too." He could not only see her smile, but he could feel it too.

"You're the best thing that's ever happened in this pathetic life of mine." He cupped her cheek.

"Its not pathetic," She brushed her lips against his, "Its made you the man you are, the man I want to be with."

"I'm never leaving you again." He said and he knew what she was going to say, that he couldn't make that promise but he stopped her, "Never. The walkers'll have to pull me outta your arms before I leave you."

"That won't happen. I'll never let them take you away." She nuzzled her nose to his.

"I know." He kissed her again. As she went to lift her arm to run it through his hair and he pulled her closer he felt her wince in pain, "What's wrong?"

"I took a pretty hard fall on my shoulder earlier." She gave a weak smile trying to roll her blade.

"Come 'ere." He said getting as much behind her as he could and she turned her back to him while still sitting on the table and let out a pleasured noise as his hands started working the muscles around her neck and back. She relit her cigarette as he massaged her and enjoyed the treatment in silence for a moment.

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?" She looked up at Glenns voice as he stood there with his hands in his pockets looking ashamed.

"Nah, he's working on his apology." She smiled pointed back to Daryl and felt him dig one of his thumbs into her back jokingly. She hissed him pain and lightly elbowed him in the stomach before turning back to Glenn, "What's up?"

"I was wondering…how did you deal with being taken hostage?" Glenn looked down at his feet then back at Angel.

She felt Daryls hands stop moving, he didn't realize that he had stopped working on her arm out of fear and realization of where the scars on her body and where her nightmares had come from. She turned to look at him with a grin, "No one told you to stop." She looked back to Glenn, "I was forced to deal with it." She saw the concern and confusion on his face, "I spent four months in the hospital. The first three I was in a horrible state, I ripped my IVs out and my stitches, I attacked the doctors thinking they were terrorists and had hallucinations. The only person I could see for who he really was, was my brother. I was three days from being put in a mental institution, a padded room with four white walls and a strait jacket because I was a threat to myself and others. They told him that and he stormed in my room, grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and got in my face. I remember his exact words too."

"What were they?" Glenn asked, sitting down at one of the seats at the table.

"He said, 'Angel, I can only imagine what you went through, but you have to realize that you went through it and it's over. I don't care what it takes, but they are about to send you away and myself and the rest of the Reapers are getting court martialed and we won't be able to come and see you, or help you. You survived, you are alive. I know your damaged right now, but if you don't shape up and pull yourself through then me and the others will have sacrificed our careers and we didn't get you back. Don't make what we did in vain.'" She flicked her cigarette, "At his words I realized what I was losing, what they were losing. It wasn't that I had lost my mind, I just didn't want to cope with what they had done to me. I broke down, right there in his arms and said everything that they had done to me. I told him about all the beatings, the whippings, how they sliced my skin open the poured alcohol on it. He told me later that he was glad that they had killed every bastard in there for doing that to me and that it hurt him to know what happened, but he was glad that telling him helped me. Glenn, I know what you went through, but I went through it alone, you didn't. I almost lost my sanity and my friends, but you could lose so much more if you don't realize what happened to you, you'll lose Maggie, she wont put up with it."

"But how?" Glenn almost pleaded getting frustrated after hearing her story, she had gone through so much more than he had and gotten through it, but he couldn't figure out how.

"Glenn, we're a lot alike, we both have a lot of confidence and pride. We don't want to admit that we were weaker than someone else even if just for a moment, but we were. Once you realize that and come to terms with what happened it'll get better." She gave him a comforting smile, "Maggie went through this with you and she loves you, if anyone can help you get through this it's her."

Glenn nodded his head, ashamed and thanked her before going inside. She felt Daryl press his lips to the back of her neck where her scar was, "I always thought how I got my scars was bad."

"They are, probably worse than the one that I got." She turned to face him, "Mine were from people who wanted to degrade my worth and didn't care about me. Yours were given to you by someone who was supposed to love and protect you, it'd be like if you did that to me."

"I would never." He cupped her face.

"I know, and that's my point Daryl. Being dealt something like that from someone I love and who is supposed to love me would be so much worse than anything those people could have ever done to me." She ran her hand over his chest.

"Did they…" He swallowed, "Rape you?"

"No, they were close, I had taken a lot of beatings and pain and I was about to the point to where they weren't going to have much use for me anymore and so a guy came into my cell and started trying, but I fought him off, he sliced me across the stomach and I almost gave up but then I heard heavy fire and knew that someone had come for me and so I kept fighting and I killed him…" She couldn't look at him, "With my bare hands. Aiden rushed into the room, I don't remember it, but he said I was curled up in the corner in a pool of blood with just rags on."

"I'm glad he killed every single one of them too." Daryl wrapped his arms around her.

"It's going to sound bad, but I'm glad your dad got bit." She placed her head on his chest, "I'm glad he can't hurt you anymore."

"I'm glad they cant hurt you anymore either and that I'm there when you wake up from remembering them." He kissed her gently before she pulled back to look at him.

"All the guard towers are blocked off by walkers." He looked at her a little surprised that she still wanted to sneak off with him and she gave him a grin before taking the tip of her tongue and running it along the center of his lips, "I still expect you to make it up to me."

"How about we go to a cell on the way to the cafeteria?" He gave her a small smile.

"Okay, but we cant go far, the tombs are starting to fill up with walkers." She brushed her lips over his before hopping off the table and heading inside which he followed. Angel headed into the main cell block saying she should grab her machete just in case and Daryl waited for her in the common room.

Merle saw the look on Daryls face as he watched her walk into the other room, "Man brother, she must be great in the sack for you to put up with that mouth and spirit of hers. You never used to like 'em like that before. You always went for the weak ones, the ones that had already been with ol' Merle. This one was unknown territory."

"It wasn't the same with her, never has been." Daryl said then turned to his brother, "And don't you fuckin ask shit about how she is. You aint never gunna earn the right to know that."

"Damn, she has you wrapped around her little finger!" Merle laughed, "Darlina, your pussy whipped."

Daryl rolled his eyes at his brother and didn't see Angel come back out of the block but heard her say, "I'm just as much wrapped around him as he is me." She walked over to Daryl and they began walking towards the cafeteria before she turned and looked at Merle, "Oh, and if you ever call him Darlina again, I'll hit you even harder next time."

They found a cell that's door shut all the way and Daryl made good on making up to her, he explored every inch of her body, kissed every scar now knowing the pain behind them and wanting to make it go away. He wouldn't let her return the sentiment, he had to make up for what he had done, and he knew he would carry the treatment past making love, he would spend every minute he was with her making it up to her.

When Angel realized he wasn't going to let her treat him the same, she stopped trying, knowing that one day she would get the chance and just let him have his way. She smiled at every whispered promise and the words of love he spoke and returned them in her own words. He held her close the whole time, always making sure he was touching at least one part of her at any time. As they both came, they held each other tight, not wanting to let go, not ever wanting to leave that spot.

Daryl knew that what she had said to him at the beginning of winter about the difference in sex was right, he had never felt his heart do the things it had done with her, just then, ever before with another woman and he knew he could never be with another woman again. If he lost her or she left him, he knew he would never be able to feel again, he knew he would want to walk into a horde of walkers if he was ever without her.

She could feel the trembling in his body and knew what he was feeling, she could feel it too, she whispered, "Daryl, we'll never be apart. We'll always be together, no matter what."

"Don make promises you cant keep." He spoke quietly back to her.

"I didn't." She ran her hand over his cheek. He rolled over onto his back and pulled her with him and she was almost laying on top of him, but he didn't care, he never did with her. As they laid there he could feel her breathing slow as she fell asleep then he felt her shiver.

"Get dressed." He kissed her on the forehead, "It's cold in here and I don want ya gettin sick."

She groaned as he sat up taking her with him but it turned into a sleepy smile as he began dressing her as best he could her pretending not to help him. When he had finished getting dressed he picked her up and carried her back to their cell block, her nodding off in his arms. He could tell that despite her trying to hide it, she was physically and mentally exhausted. Not sure how he managed it, he had gotten through both cell doors and locked them before laying her down in her bed. He thanked god that Merle hadn't been awake or else he would have made such a big deal about it that he probably would have not only woken her up, but riled her up as well. Smiling as he watched her curl up in the sheets he quietly began to turn to return to his bunk when her quiet voice filled his ears, "Stay with me."

Daryl didn't even have to think twice about it before climbing into the small bed with her and wrapping his arm around her, his face getting tickled by the waves in her hair. He normally wouldn't have wanted to stay in a small bed in what normally would have been uncomfortable circumstances, but with her he didn't mind sleeping cuddled up next to her, or having her hair in his face, or how she liked to sleep on her side and how he liked to sleep on his stomach. All that mattered to him, now more than ever, was having her in his arms.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hey guys I'm sooooooooooooooo sorry for taking this long! I've had a really rough week between home and work and I just couldnt even muster up the ability to clear my mind long enough to watch an episode let alone write. BUT I'M FORCING MYSELF OUT OF IT! I refuse to let it go this long again until I'm caught up with the season 4! Let me know what you guys think of this one!**

Angel was heading back to her cell after helping Beth with the baby and was surprised to see Daryl standing in the room looking around, "Something I can do for you?"

"Jus' lookin'. Figure if we ever combine our cells you're gunna have to get rid of some of this clutter, I don't like clutter." He ran his fingers over one of the sets of tags hanging on her wall, "Thought you military types were organized and shit."

"We are, notice they're all in alphabetical order, all even, and everything has its place. Just because we're organized doesn't mean we cant personalize our quarters." She waved him off then gave him a cheeky smile, "So, combine our cells huh?"

"Just a thought." Daryl looked at her unsurely. She smiled at him before turning to leave her cell. He heard her walk out then exited her cell to see her going up the stairs, "Where ya goin'?"

"To see what I don't like about your cell!" She replied and he could hear the teasing in her voice. He went up the stairs after her and caught up as she was walking into his cell. Daryl watched as she looked around, she knew he didn't have much, but the cell was a lot emptier than hers. She noticed a pile of things on the floor by the edge of the bed, "Well at least my stuff all has a place! Nothing of mine is on the floor."

"I'll leave a path from the door to the bed, but that's all I'm givin ya." He smiled pulling her to him.

"Then maybe I'll condense my tags to three nails." She sighed back to him with a tiny smile trying to convey begrudgement.

"How bout one?" He held her hips with his hands.

She knew he was trying to sweet talk her in his own way, but she would win, she wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his hair, running her fingernails along his scalp just enough for her to feel him tighten his grip on her, "Three."

"One." He pulled her hips to be flush with his but she was already trailing kisses along his neck, jaw, and ear, while still using her nails in his hair. Her mouth made it to his and she started swirling her tongue around his, then she began sucking on it. He tried not to moan, "Alright, two."

"Three." She said placing her mouth back on his and pressing her body completely flush with his, he felt himself wanting her, but he didn't want her to win so he ran one hand up her side and began cupping a breast. Angel knew what he was doing and tried to focus on the task at hand, but it was very difficult when she wanted to rip their clothes off now and let those amazingly callused hands have their way.

"Two." He whispered since he seemed to have taken the lead with her not moving in his arms. Her mind was fuzzy as he ran her nipple around in his fingers through the fabric, when she felt him going under her shirt she knew she had to think of something fast in order to win. He tried to bite back a smile, knowing that he was driving her crazy, he decided that he was going to convince her to make it two.

Daryl quickly grabbed his poncho and put it over the barred doors, covering up most of the area except a portion at the bottom then held it as he shut the door, effectively holding it in place. She didn't have a chance to say anything to him about it before his hands were back under her shirt and pulling it up over her head. Once he got her bra off his tongue was tracing circles around the exposed mound of pink flesh and he felt her gipping his hair again. When he took her nipple in his mouth he could feel her breathing was labored and had to place her hand on his back for support.

As he worked her sensitive skin with his mouth she tried to think of what to do in order to win a contest that seemed very unimportant at the moment but when his tongue flicked at the bud in his mouth, she smiled knowing what she could do. She undid the buckle on his pants and pushed the material down as she pushed him back onto the bed. Angel smiled as she leaned over and he saw the devious look in her eye as she kissed him while wrapping her hand around his length. She felt him tense in pleasure and her smile grew wider.

He tried to pull her onto his lap but she wiggled out of his grasp and he gave her a slightly frustrated look. Daryls breath stopped when she whispered in his ear, "I don't have a gag reflex."

He felt himself go rock hard as she began kissing down his neck and he knew that he was about to win personally, but he would lose the battle over spaces. She had never given him head before and he had never asked because according to Merle girls that have a lot of respect for themselves don't do things like this, but Daryl should have known that Merle was wrong about everything else when it came to her, why wouldn't he have been wrong about this?

Angel smiled as she released him from the confines of his boxers and he gripped the edge of the bed when he felt her tongue on the underside of his shaft. She licked him up and down making sure he was slick before she circled her tongue around his head. He couldn't keep his eyes off her as she began sucking on the tip and the sight of her slowly taking every inch of him in her mouth was so damn sexy. He could feel himself in the back of her throat and she gave a small hum that sent sparks up his body. Looking up at him, she realized he was trying not to explode in her mouth just yet and she began bobbing her head up and down on him and she could see his grip on the bed grow tighter.

He felt her grab his hand and he tried to release his death hold on it for her and was surprised when he moved it to the back of her head. As she began twisting her tongue around him while she took him in and out of her mouth his grip on her hair became tighter and she smiled when he began moving her head for her, she had wanted him involved and not completely at her mercy. He tried to tell her he was about to cum but he could barely get out the first syllable of his name before he was shooting himself into the back of her throat. She swallowed every bit that he gave her and his grip on her head loosened, "Three, you can have three."

"That's what I thought." She smiled at him wiping her mouth gently. He pulled her up to him and gave her a long kiss.

"Now it's your turn." He whispered his hand snaking into her pants. She gripped his shirt as his fingers began working her sensitive spots and his mouth found her still exposed nipple.

"Daryl! It's your turn for watch!" They heard Glenn yell from down stairs and he almost let out a frustrated yell.

"Later." She said kissing him on the forehead before retrieving her shirt and bra.

"It aint fair though." Daryl put an arm around her and cupped her cheek, Glenn yelled for him again, "I'm sorry."

She leaned up and kissed him gently before opening the door, "It's fine."

Daryl laughed at how amazing his girlfriend was about things and slapped her ass as he headed outside.

"Were you two making out?" Sophia asked with a smile looking up from her lessons.

"Sorry girlie, I don't kiss and tell." Angel winked at her then headed into the common room to see if Carol needed help with dinner.

"Angel." She heard Merle from his guest cell, "Can I have a word?"

Carol looked at her a little worried before Angel just nodded to her before walking over to Merle. She leaned on the frame of the cell, "What is it?"

"Why didn't you tell my baby brother what I really said to you that day in Atlanta?" Merle lounged back in his bed.

"Because you're the only family he has left, and if I had told him the truth he either wouldn't have believed me or if he did believe me then he would have hated you. I wont be the person to break up two siblings."

Merle felt like an ass, he thought about his brother and what he felt when he found out he was still alive and he wondered how Daryl had survived without him, then he realized that he had tried to take away the only person who could have possibly pulled him through it, without her he might have lost the only family he had left, "I'm sorry for what I did, if I had known…"

"You would have done it either way, you saw me as a distraction from the goal." Angel shrugged her shoulders then pointed to his still bruised face and broken nose, "I got my payback, it's all water under the bridge now. I wont be at odds with you when you're his brother."

"You really care about him don't you?" Merle looked at her and she nodded her head, "How can you when you know how he is, when you're so proper and he's backwoods?"

"It's how he is that makes me like him. He isn't weak, he isn't abusive, he might be backwoods but he's strong morals and that's what matters to me. I don't care what kind of life he's had and he doesn't care the kind of life that I've had, we care about each other, the rest doesn't matter." She looked at him then heard Glenn calling her name and she turned and left Merle to think about what she said. She walked up to Glenn and saw that he had maps out and had drawn a floor plan of the prison, "What's up?"

"I was wondering if I could use your military brain since we're going to be staying here. I figure since we can't look around outside these maps will help us and working a plan for inside the prison just in case." He looked up at her and she nodded her head and sat down with him at the table. She showed him the best spots to be able to have a better vantage point to the road and where certain guns and ammo should be set up for the distance they would be shooting, and that they should see about finding something to cut holes in the grating near the doors to the cell block so that they would be able to fit a gun though. Angel explained to him that they should go on foot to plan out for the inside of the building to see what was clear and what wasn't for them to use and fortify, "You're really good at this."

"I have been doing it for ten years." She laughed at him.

"That also means your good a judging people right?" Glenn squinted at her and she gave him a questioning face, "What do you think of Merle and Michonne being here?"

"I like Michonne, and clearly Rick has a little bit of trust in her at least since he took her to King County today. Shes a fighter and a survivor, she thinks quick on her feet and I think that's someone we need. As for Merle…I've made my peace with him for what he did and if you want to keep Daryl around I suggest you try to deal with it to. He seems softer now than he did before in the Atlanta camp."

"Maybe…I just cant get over what he did to me." Glenn put his head in his hands.

"You might never be able to forgive him, even until the day you die, but you'll be able to get over it as much as is possible with something like that." She put her hand on his back, "I still haven't even gotten over what happened to me, I came to terms with it, but I still have nightmares about it."

"I'm sorry." Glenn mumbled.

"What is it with everyone apologizing to me today?" Angel laughed, "What are you saying it about?"

"That I said you didn't know what I was going through and that you weren't in your right mind a few days ago." He couldn't look at her.

"Glenn, you're a good friend, it'll take a lot more than the truth to make me make you apologize for something like that." She smiled at him trying to get him to look at her.

"But it wasn't the truth." His head shot up to connect eyes with her.

"Yes it was, I wasn't there emotionally, I would have just taken any order you gave me and done it, I only talked to you because Herschel asked me to. And I knew the pain you felt but I don't know what it's like to have someone else go through that with you, let alone someone you love. Glenn, neither of us were ourselves, you don't need to apologize." Glenn gave her a small smile before wrapping his arms around her.

"You're one of the best friends I've ever had." He said letting her go.

"Well its slim pickins this day and age." She laughed at him before slapping him on the back, "Come on, let's get ready for when they get back with all those weapons!"

"You're a little too excited." He laughed following her.

"Why do you think I joined the Army, I got to play with guns and it was legal! Best thing I ever did was get to drive a tank." She over exaggerated her missing the memory and he shoved her shoulder as they laughed and went to grab tables to put in the common room.

* * *

Andrea had come by again and told them that the Governor wanted to meet and negotiate with them and Rick asked Herschel, Angel, and Daryl to come along just in case he tried anything. Before they got in the car Rick walked over to Angel as she was about to climb on the bike, "You have any advice on negotiations?"

"No, but I have sat down with people like him before. He'll try to sweet talk you, try to make you relate to what he's going through, you're a smart man, you'll know when he's doing it. Also, keep an eye on where his hands are at all times, chances are he picked this place because he's been there before. He'll probably disarm himself to make you feel safe but have something hidden somewhere that he can get too quickly." She said to him and he nodded as she climbed onto the bike.

Rick nodded and they headed off to the abandoned farm store, when they got there Daryl pulled around the back and he and Rick went one way while Angel went another, leaving Herschel to keep an eye from the car. After they had gone around the silos and didn't find anyone Rick proceeded into the main building with her and Daryl going around either side of it looking through the windows.

Once the two men inside were talking she went around the side of the building and walked up Daryl as a car pulled up to them. Two men and Andrea stepped out and Angel saw something familiar about the Hispanic man who was driving. The thought quickly went from her mind as Andrea went inside. She kept quiet as Daryl and the man named Milton exchanged words although she didn't like Daryl being called a henchmen, but when the driver and Daryl began to get tense with each other she was about to step in when Herschel spoke first.

He was right that they would be at each other's throats if things went bad and she wasn't looking forward to the death that would be caused by it, and she knew she wasn't the only one thinking it because of the silence that fell over the five of them. After a while Milton stepped up saying that we should take the time _to explore the issues themselves, _as he so pronouncedly put it. Angel found it funny, "What you don't want to explain yourself to the henchmen but you want to hear their opinions?"

She heard Daryl sniff out a laugh when the man stumbled over his next set of words and as he was explaining how he had been keeping record of whats happening they heard the sound of walkers and Martinez, Daryl, Angel, and Andrea took off towards the noises. Angel couldn't help but laugh as the two boys wanted the other to go first but she knew it was more of a _I don't trust you being behind me with a weapon_ thing more than a politeness thing. She could stop her eyes from rolling as Andrea pushed past them to kill the first walker.

She went off to the side to take out a few while the boys seemed to be competing and when she finished her last one she heard Daryl calling her name, when she walked over to them he tossed her a pack of cigarettes, "I know it aint much but I figure I owe ya a few."

She smiled as she held the flame to the paper and enjoyed the buzz she got from not having one in a while. Her and Daryl smoked as Martinez talked about hating the walkers and how Rick and The Governor were never going to make peace. When Martinez asked for a cigarette she looked at him, "You seem really familiar…are you sure you weren't in the Army?"

"Nah," He shook his head at her, "That wasn't my thing, my cousin loved it though. Said he had a really good group he was in, kicked ass where ever they went. He was sent to Atlanta though when it happened."

"What was his name? I was sent to Atlanta too, I might be able to tell you if he got away." She looked at him and saw his eyes light up at the chance of knowing the fate of a possible family member.

"Diego, Diego Rolan." He paused when a big smile grew on her face, she knew why he was familiar now, she had seen pictures of him before.

"Well you weren't wrong when you said he was part of a kick ass squad." She rolled up her sleeve to reveal the tattoo they all shared and he walked over grabbing her arm and running his thumb over the ink.

"Which one were you? Every time he was home he always had stories to tell about you guys." Martinez smiled at her backing away again, Daryl watched the interaction and enjoyed seeing Angel happy about finding someone connected to her group of friends.

"I'm Sol." She smiled.

"His commanding officer huh?" His face went more serious, "So is my cousin still alive?"

"Last I saw him he was, it was about eight months ago but he was with the rest of our squad and a few more survivors from the city. We were heading north." She answered him, "Beater's survived worse than this and he's pulled my ass out of the fire plenty of times, I know he's still alive."

"It's good to know." Martinez smiled and didn't want her to die, she was the only lead in his family he had.

They got done smoking and headed back over to the feed store and once again the silence over took them. Andrea stood and approached Angel, "I heard you went back to look for me even though the others had seen me go down. Why? I know you were never fond of me."

"I don't like leaving people behind, regardless of my feelings towards them." Angel adjusted the strap on her arm guard.

"So you didn't like me." Andrea laughed, the soldier hadn't even denied her feelings, "What did I ever do to you?"

"Always too quick to jump the gun, like now it's like you're trying to start a fight," Angel spoke but stayed calm and Daryl knew it's because she didn't think of Andrea as a threat. She leaned back on a car, "You remind me of the kids on their first tour to the Middle East, fresh out of boot, they wanted to prove themselves, most of the time it got them killed. You have traits that I'm not fond of."

Andrea went to reply to her comment when the doors to the shed opened and Rick and The Governor came out and they all went to their respective vehicles, Angel not even glancing back at the group heading towards Woodbury. She knew the look that both men wore when they walked out of the store, it was the look of oncoming war.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Guys I'm sooooooo sorry! My life is just beating me up right now and if I have the energy to write I never have the time and it makes me so sad :( This is the end of season three and a few things will be happening between the end of this season and the start of the fourth ;) Hopefully I'll be able to push through the holiday weekend and at least put out one chapter since I have to work the holiday and the days around it but I will definitely try and make time for it!**

Daryl was listening to Rick tell him about handing over Michonne and he looked back and forth between him and Herschel. Angel was rubbing off on him, handing over a person like that just didn't seem right. He locked eyes with Rick, "Just aint us man."

Rick sighed as Herschel walked away agreeing with Daryl and took a step closer to him, "We do this, we avoid a fight. No one else dies. Angel, who is the only one who's had proper battlefield training, got shot the last time they were here. I know you know that she would do whatever it takes to keep everyone here safe."

He knew Rick was right and he hoped Angel would understand what he was about to do, he was doing it so he didn't lose her. He nodded in agreement and Rick looked at him again, "We need someone else."

"Angel'll never do it." Daryl put his weight on his back foot, she would know what Michonne was about to go through.

"I know, that's why she's not who I meant." Rick replied looking out at the field of walkers and Daryl understood he meant Merle. They talked about how to tell him and it was decided Rick would do it which was good because Daryl had to tell Angel he was going out and he couldn't tell her why.

She was sitting making sure all of the guns that weren't already outside were cleaned and working properly when he found her, he had a small smile at how concentrated she was with her hands working the different pieces of the weapon in her hand. Daryl snuck up behind her without her somehow noticing and covered her eyes with his hands. Angel laughed as she tilted her head back towards his body, "Hmm I wonder who it could be?"

"I'm sure you'll never be able to guess." He bent over giving her a kiss before walking around to be in front of her, "Havin' fun?"

"I've got a gun in my hands and a very attractive man in front of me, how can I not be?" She gave him a grin as she went back to working on the gun, "What are you up to?"

"Nothin." He said sitting uneasily, he didn't know what to do with his hands so he just put them in his lap. She noticed his behavior and smiled, waiting for him to come clean about whatever it was he was hiding, he had always acted like a five year old when he was hiding something. The silence of him sitting there watching her clean a gun was very nerve wracking, he knew she could tell he had something to tell her but either didn't want to or didn't know how to.

"So what did Rick want to talk about?" She helped him along knowing that he needed it.

"Nother meeting with the governor. Wants me to go with him." He looked up at the rafters, "Wants you to stay here, he thinks the governor might try somethin while hes gone."

"Okay." She shrugged her shoulder, "Don't really like not going somewhere with you after our track record, but it's whatever Rick wants."

"Really?" He gave her a confused look, "You sure you're fine with it."

"I know you're lying Daryl, I just don't know about what." She gave him a smile, "I highly doubt it's anything like you going to go and meet another girl in the woods for a wild romp. Whatever it is, I'm sure I'll find out eventually whenever you're ready. I trust you."

She smiled putting the gun back on the table before standing up to walk next to where he was sitting. He felt torn, he wanted to protect her but would she really trust him after this? Daryl just nodded at her with a weak smile and she bent down and kissed him and was shocked when he was the one that held her there. He stood up with the kiss and wrapped his arms around her, despite what he was doing to avoid fighting he was going to meet the governor after all and he didn't trust that man at all, "I love you."

"I love you too." Angel whispered back to him, now worried, he was rarely ever like this before a simple run, "Be careful out there today." She looked up into his eyes and placed a hand on his cheek, "And don't run off this time."

He gave her a small smiled before giving her another quick kiss, "I'll never do that again less it's with you."

"When did you become a romantic?" She laughed at him and he gave her a playful glare back.

"Hope I'm not interrupting." Michonnes voice entered their ears. Angel stepped away from Daryl and looked at the woman, "We're heading out to set up the barbed wire, I ran the idea by Glenn and he liked it just as much as you did."

"It was a damned good idea! If we had claymores I'd suggest those but wires are the best we have." Angel smiled then looked at Daryl, "You wanna come along? We could use the muscle."

He nodded and they headed for the truck. While they were out Angel couldn't help but notice Daryls actions towards Michonne, he couldn't look at her straight and when they pulled back up to the courtyard he was quick to bring up how much of a help she had been. It wasn't like him to speak out like that about someone he didn't know that well unless he didn't like them. They headed inside and he gave her a kiss before going to look for Merle as she went to see if Carol and Sophia needed anything.

A little while later Rick came walking over to Angel and Daryl and said something about him calling it off and she saw Daryls shoulders relax. Then when he said he couldn't find Merle or Michonne the three of them went off looking for them and realized that Merle had taken her and Angel put the pieces of the puzzle together that they were going to hand the woman over to the Governor. Daryl said he would go after Merle and Rick looked unsure but let him go. Once Daryl was out of hearing distance Rick put a hand on Angels shoulder, "Follow him, make sure he doesn't do anything to drastic."

"Yes sir." She nodded then headed off after Daryl. As she followed him she stuck to the trees and when he was in a field she stayed in the tree line to where she could see him but he couldn't see her. She hated following him like this, honestly she wasn't sure if he knew she was there or not and she really didn't care. After a while she saw him run into Michonne and they talked for a moment before he took off running and she got worried about what he would do as she kept after him.

As Daryl walked around the feed store looking for any sign of Merle, Angel watched him still not wanting to approach him yet, unsure of how he would feel about her having followed him this whole way, she didn't even like it but Rick had asked her too and she was worried about him. Her heart stopped when Merles corpse's eyes locked on to Daryl, she remembered how Daryl had told her one night that when his father had turned he had been unable to kill him. She ran for him but stopped short when Daryl dug his knife into Merles shoulder and knocked him into the ground. She watched as he repeatedly stabbed his brother in the head.

Daryl fell onto his back and pressed his palms into his eyes knowing the only person that would ever understand how much Merle meant to him was over an hours walk back to the prison, and he wished Angel had come with him now, he wished he had her to clutch onto. He felt hands on his shoulders lifting him up into a sitting position and when he opened his eyes he expected to see a walker or one of the Governors thugs but instead he was met by sapphire blue eyes that had tears welling in them. His mind finally registered that it was Angel and he buried his head in her chest and held on tight to her as he sobbed and she clutched to him as well, tears falling from her own eyes.

She had never really liked Merle but if she had to have done what Daryl just did to her bother she didn't know what she'd do, she would fall apart too. Her mouth opened many times to say something but the only words that she could ever manage were just variations of the phrase _I'm sorry_ and more tears would escape her eyes from the pain that he was in, a pain she didn't know how to stop. When his sobs stopped neither of them knew how long it had been but she never let him go until he pulled away.

He looked up at her with red eyes, "How…how were you here?"

"I followed you, I was worried." She cupped his cheek and could feel her lips still quivering.

"I'm glad…I don't kn-" He was interrupted by her shushing him and he knew she was right, that what he was going to say shouldn't be said, not right now anyhow. He slowly dragged his eyes to his brothers body, "I cant just leave him here, not like that."

"I know." She stood up and walked over to the side of the shed, he would have followed her but he couldn't stand, not yet. Angel found a shovel next to a wheel barrel and some spare wood and she snapped the pieces in half and walked back to Daryl with them and the shovel. She set the scrap wood in front of him, "Make a cross, we bury our dead, remember."

He nodded and watched as she walked over to a field and broke ground with the shovel, he knew he should probably have been the one doing the hard work, but as he began to make the marker he realized that she had given him the more personal job, the job that was the truly harder one. Once he was done and finally had the ability to walk again he went over to where she was, she was already half way done and stopped as he approached. She put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a sad smile, "It's going to take the both of us to put him in the wheel barrel, are you going to be okay to do that?"

"With you, yeah." He tried to smile but didn't succeed and she wrapped her arms around him again. He held her tight before taking the shovel from her, "I'll take the rest, its hot out and you need to be able to make it back to the prison."

She nodded and sat down next to where he was digging. Daryl had to take his mind off of his brother so he quietly asked, "Do you still trust me?"

"Of course I do, why would you even ask?" She looked over at him concerned, he only looked at her for a moment before returning to digging.

"Because you followed me, and because I was going to help hand Michonne over to the Governor."

"Daryl, I will always trust you. Rick asked me to follow you, keep an eye on you to make sure nothing bad happened between you and Merle, I was also worried about you, it has nothing to do with me not trusting you." She dipped her head down trying to get him to look at her, "As for giving Michonne over, you know that I would never have done it if it had been my choice, but it wasn't. I might not agree with every little decision that you make but that doesn't make me trust you any less. I know that there's a reason for why you do what you do and I trust your instinct. I love you Daryl and I will always trust you."

"Really?" He looked up at her before climbing out of the finished grave.

Angel stood up and walked over to him, "Really, and I will always support you no matter what."

He gave her a quick kiss before they headed over to move the body to the grave. Once they were done and had hammered the cross into the ground Angel walked back to where she assumed Merle had been shot, Daryl watched then was surprised when she came back out with his gun and watched as she emptied it out before draping it over the cross, since Merle had been in the military, "I would give him a twenty-one gun salute, but I don't think it would be very safe."

"Yeah, I'm sure he'd like the thought though." Daryl said and felt her fingers lace through his as they stood looking at the grave. After a sigh he turned to her, "Better be gettin back before the others think we're dead."

She nodded and they walked back hand in hand. He was quiet for the rest of the night and stayed in his cell, Angel brought him dinner which he barely touched and when it was time for them to go to sleep she was walking to his cell to say good night when she heard him crying quietly.

Daryl felt the mattress dip down behind him and knew it was her and when he rolled over her arms were already open for him to wrap himself up in. She held him tight and rested her cheek on his head, glad that she was finally able to return the comfort he had given her wrapped up so many nights in his arms. She ran her fingers through his hair trying to soothe him and eventually his breathing evened out and shallowed and she knew he was asleep. Placing a light kiss on his forehead she rolled over onto her back pulling him with her, knowing that he slept best on his stomach, and she wanted to make sure he got all the rest he could, war was most certainly coming in the next few days.

* * *

The next day they all sat around a table, the vote had been made, they were staying. Rick looked at her from across the table, "Angel, how do we all make it out of this alive?"

"We're staying, so we make them think we aren't." She said chewing on the side of her cheek, thinking of the best way to do this, "We pack up the cars, empty our cells, let them meet no resistance other than what's already outside. We move the vehicles out of sight range and have a group stay with them just in case." Angel stood up and looked out the window at the entrance, "Most likely until they get inside they'll think we're still here. They'll probably take out the guard towers thinking we have someone posted in them so we a person in the bottom of the two at the gate, they'll hit the tops, once they've left them alone those people will move up to the top and wait for them to retreat."

"Wait, how are we going to get them to retreat?" Glenn looked at her.

"And you said until they're inside…" Maggie followed.

"We're going to let them inside, make them think its empty. Someone will be in the generator room, set of the alarms at the right moment, someone else will make noise and lead them into the tombs where the walkers are, then hide in an empty cell. Two more people will be hiding right inside the courtyard for when they leave they'll start firing at them and that's when the people in the towers will join. Most of them are civilians, only a few have decent combat training, they'll spook and run."

"Sounds good enough. Who goes where?" Herschel looked at her.

"Well I'd say you and Carl take the girls to the woods with the cars and protect them if any of their people come across you guys." She looked at Rick and he nodded so she continued, "I'm the best shot here so I'll take the farthest tower and Carol, you take the other. Daryl, Rick and Michonne, you guys should be the ones in the tombs, Daryls fast on his feet and Michonne you're the best at taking out walkers fast incase more show up than we thought. Rick you've worked the generators before so you should be the one there. Maggie and Glenn, you two will suit up and one of you on the outside catwalk and another on the stairway to the other cell blocks. That's if you all are okay with that."

"Did you just come up with that or have you been thinking about this a lot?" Michonne tilted her head to the side with a small smile.

"Been thinking about it since we met up with the Governor a few days ago." Angel shrugged her shoulder, "Better to be safe than sorry."

Everyone nodded in agreement to the plan and they all set off to pack their things and get to their posts. Before Angel headed out to her tower she went over to the three about to head into the tombs, "You guys should come up with some kind of signal to let him know when to turn on the alarms."

"Yeah." Rick said before gathering everyone one last time, "We've been through worst and this time we have a good plan. Any advice Angel?"

"Shoot to kill, that's what they're going to do." She looked at the gun in her hands, this was like every other time her team had gone out on jobs, she always gave what was her version of a pep talk, which they were never very peppy, "Taking out the Governor is the top priority, but if you have the shot take out the people with the biggest guns first, they'll be the most dangerous. You cant hesitate on this, if you do you might die, and we've lost enough of our own over this. This so-called war has to end today, if it doesn't then we will all eventually die here at the hands of that man, so let's finish this."

Angel finished with a nod and before they all headed off Daryl walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her, "You be careful out there."

"I will." She spoke softly and he could hear something in her voice.

"I'm sorry you have to go back to war, I'm sure this can't be easy." He ran he hand along her cheek.

"It is easy, that's what makes it difficult." She smiled sadly at him. Daryl leaned down and kissed her knowing what she meant, "I'll see you soon."

He nodded and headed into the tombs, Angel turned from him to see Carol hugging Sophia tightly and Angel picked up a pistol from the spares and walked over to the girl, her mom took a step back as Angel knelt down to Sophia's level, "Take this, just in case. I know I haven't gotten to teach you much with it, but you need more than just you're knife right now okay?"

"I understand, I wont use it unless I have to." Sophia gingerly took the weapon.

"Good girl." Angel said kissing her temple before the three of them walked to the cars. Her and Carol got out at the towers and each went into their separate ones, Angel yelled before Carol shut the door, "Stay under a landing until they have stopped firing for at least two minutes."

The woman nodded and Angel followed her own instructions and sat down with her gun in her lap and waited for it to begin. She didn't have to wait long before she could hear the engines coming down the road. Then an explosion and a rainfall of cement down around her and she covered her head from the debris and her eyes flashed with memories from Afghanistan and Iraq and it took everything in her power not to let instinct win and run out the door and fire on her enemy, she had to stick with the plan or she would end up dead, and someone else might too trying to save her.

Inside the prison Daryl was waiting for the sound of the others entering the common room when he heard a loud bang and the sound of loud machine gun fire. His head darted in the direction of the noises and instant worry and fear washed over him. Michonne grabbed his arm, "She's a smart girl, she took that post because she knew she could handle it. Stick with the plan and you'll be able to see for yourself in a little bit."

He nodded but it wasn't an easy thing to do, not with knowing how she had been in the Middle East. Hearing the others enter the common room they headed to their post and after a few moments he made a small noise against a door. Daryl heard the metal door creak open and continued the noises down the hall before slipping into the door Michonne was holding open for him. When the footsteps got closer they threw the flash grenades down the hallway and Daryl smiled as the alarms went off and he heard the people start to panic, Angel had been right.

Angels lungs burned as she breathed in the smoke and dust unwillingly. The firing had stopped and she made her way up to the top landing trying to use her jacket to cut through most of the stuff she didn't want to breathe in. She took it off and began hitting what little flames remained with the back of the fabric and continued to cough and she realized she was getting slightly light-headed from the lack of real oxygen.

She snuffed out enough of the fire to have a safe place to stand as she began firing at the people running out of the cell blocks in unison with the others. Her eyes burned from the ash but she knew she was landing shots and fought through the discomfort. When the vans all drove away she realized she was very dizzy and tried to make it down the stairs.

Daryl walked to the fence and saw the tower that Angel was in billowing smoke and his heart stopped when he realized what the loud bang had been before. His legs took off before his mind could register what he was doing and when he reached the tower he swung the door open yelling her name. He didn't hear anything for a moment before there was a groan followed by a quiet, "Daryl."

He rushed up the stairs and found her half down the top flight covered in soot. Quickly he picked her up and took her out of the tower and smiled when she took a deep breath of fresh air then immediately frowned when she began coughing. She held onto his arms as she coughed so she didn't lose balance through the dizziness that was clouding her vision. When she looked back up at him she saw the concern in his eyes, "I'm fine, just breathed in a little too much smoke."

She gave him a weak smile then almost fell backwards at the force of him crashing his lips on hers. Angel held on tight to his shirt as he kissed her, "Ya scared the shit outta me Angel."

"I'm sorry," She whispered her throat dry, "It's not like I could leave the tower until they were gone though."

"I know." He said kissing her again before walking with her back up to the prison supporting her as needed. Daryl was worried, her breathing was shallow and she was leaning on him a lot more than she normally would. He took her into her cell then walked back out into the common room as they decided to go to Woodbury to finish it.

"I'll go." Angel said leaning on the door to the cell block. Daryl knew she was in no position to go, she couldn't even take a deep breath.

"No, I need to check you to make sure you didn't get carbon monoxide poisoning." Herschel said then gave Daryl a nod who returned it with thanks.

"I'm fine I can go." She said trying to suppress a cough. Daryl knew why she wanted to go, he honestly didn't want to leave her either but he wanted to finish this. He looked at Rick and signaled he needed a moment before he would meet them outside.

He walked over to Angel and spoke so only she could hear them, "I know you're a soldier and that you wanna fight to protect everyone but you have to see that right now your health is more important. I love you and I thought I lost you for a moment back there and I don't wanna go to Woodbury and have to worry about you getting winded or light-headed. Stay here and let the doc make sure you're okay and let me go out and protect you."

"Daryl." She sighed and knew he was right but still wanted to be there with him, "Fine. But you be safe and you come home or else I will come and find you were ever you are and bring you back."

"I know and I will." He said kissing her before leaving and she was approached by Herschel.

* * *

The next morning she laid in bed waiting for the sound of Daryls motorcycle to come. She hadn't moved from her bed since Herschel had checked her out to the best of his abilities and since Maggie and Glenn wouldn't let her help stand watch saying she needed her rest. Sophia had kept her company most of the time getting her anything she needed and having idle conversation waiting for the others to come back. There was a silent tension in the building, not knowing if they would come back with good news saying that it was over or if they would say that it wasn't and they had to remain on edge, or if they would even come back at all.

When she heard the sound of the cars she got up from her bunk and headed for the door with the others. She walked into the sunlight and saw a bus with people getting off and she walked over to Daryl who she wrapped her arms around. He returned the gesture and looked at her, "So what'd Herschel say?"

"No strenuous activities and plenty of rest and I be rid of the cough in no time." She smiled then looked at the people still exiting the bus.

"The rest of the people from Woodbury, we couldn't find the governor and they had nowhere else to go." He said his eyes following her direction.

"Looks like this is going to be our home." She had a small smile on.

"I still aint movin in with ya until we settle the decoration situation." He tightened his grip on her waist.

"We're gunna go through that again?" She laughed at him and her eyes finally settled on the truck, "Whose body is that?"

"Andreas. Governor locked her up with a walker and she got bit." Daryl spoke, his smile fading.

"She asked me why I didn't like her…but there at the end, she had graduated from the kids right out of boot, to a soldier that knew how to handle the world of fighting, and that last time I saw her I liked her a little bit more." Angel said, her voice filled with sadness.

"She's with Amy, that's all that matters now." Daryl said thinking of Merle.

"I know." She let him lead her inside back to her bunk to get more rest and he curled up with her since he hadn't slept at all that night and they both fell asleep holding each other, relieved that they could finally rest without having to sleep with one eye open, relieved that it was over.


End file.
